Through the Bible – Day 34

₁Moses called together the people of Israel and told them that the LORD had said:

₄Moses told the people of Israel that the LORD had said:

₂₀Moses finished speaking, and everyone left. ₂₁Then those who wanted to bring gifts to the LORD, brought them to be used for the sacred tent, the worship services, and the priestly clothes. ₂₂Men and women came willingly and gave all kinds of gold jewellery such as pins, earrings, rings, and necklaces. ₂₃Everyone brought their blue, purple, and red wool, their fine linen, and their cloth made of goat hair, as well as their ram skins dyed red and their fine leather. ₂₄Anyone who had silver or bronze or acacia wood brought it as a gift to the LORD.

₂₅The women who were good at weaving cloth brought the blue, purple, and red wool and the fine linen they had made. ₂₆And the women who knew how to make cloth from goat hair were glad to do so.

₂₇The leaders brought different kinds of jewels to be sewn on the special clothes and the breastpiece for the high priest. ₂₈They also brought sweet-smelling spices to be mixed with the incense and olive oil that were for the lamps and for ordaining the priests. ₂₉Moses had told the people what the LORD wanted them to do, and many of them decided to bring their gifts.

₃₀Moses said to the people of Israel:

₂Then Moses brought together these workers who were eager to work, ₃and he gave them the money that the people of Israel had donated for building the place of worship. In fact, so much money was being given each morning, ₄that finally everyone stopped working ₅and said, “Moses, there is already more money than we need for what the LORD has assigned us to do.” ₆So Moses sent word for the people to stop giving, and they did. ₇But there was already more than enough to do what needed to be done.

_8-9The skilled workers got together to make the sacred tent and its linen curtains woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. Each of the ten panels was twelve metres long and two metres wide, ₁₀and they were sewn together to make two curtains with five panels each. _11-13Then fifty loops of blue cloth were put along one of the wider sides of each curtain, and the two curtains were fastened together at the loops with fifty gold hooks.

_14-15As the material for the tent, goat hair was used to weave eleven sections thirteen metres by two metres each. ₁₆These eleven sections were joined to make two panels, one with five and the other with six sections. ₁₇Fifty loops were put along one of the wider sides of each panel, ₁₈and the two panels were fastened at the loops with fifty bronze hooks. ₁₉Two other coverings were made—one with fine leather and the other with ram skins dyed red.

₂₀Acacia wood was used to build the framework for the walls of the sacred tent. ₂₁Each frame was four metres high and sixty-six centimetres wide _22-26with two wooden pegs near the bottom. Then two silver stands were placed under each frame with sockets for the pegs, so they could be joined together. Twenty of these frames were used along the south side and twenty more along the north. ₂₇Six frames were used for the back wall along the west side _28-29with two more at the south-west and north-west corners. These corner frames were joined from top to bottom. ₃₀Altogether, along the back wall there were eight frames with two silver stands under each of them.

_31-33Five crossbars were made for each of the wooden frames, with the centre crossbar running the full length of the wall. ₃₄The frames and crossbars were covered with gold, and gold rings were attached to the frames to run the crossbars through.

₃₅They made the inside curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool, and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. ₃₆They also made four acacia wood posts and covered them with gold. Then gold rings were fastened to the posts, which were set on silver stands.

₃₇For the entrance to the tent, they used a curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with fancy needlework. ₃₈They made five posts, covered them completely with gold, and set them each on a gold-covered bronze stand. Finally, they attached hooks for the curtain.

₁Bezalel built a chest of acacia wood one hundred and ten centimetres long, sixty-six centimetres wide, and sixty-six centimetres high. ₂He covered it inside and out with pure gold and put a gold edging around the top. ₃He made four gold rings and fastened one of them to each of the four legs of the chest. ₄Then he made two poles of acacia wood, covered them with gold, ₅and put them through the rings, so the chest could be carried by the poles.

₆The entire lid of the chest, which was also covered with pure gold, was the place of mercy. _7-9On each of the two ends of the chest he made a winged creature of hammered gold. They faced each other, and their wings covered the place of mercy.

₁₀Bezalel built a table of acacia wood eighty-eight centimetres long, forty-four centimetres wide, and sixty-six centimetres high. _11-12He covered it with pure gold and put a gold edging around it with a border seventy-five millimetres wide. ₁₃He made four gold rings and attached one to each of the legs ₁₄near the edging. The poles for carrying the table were placed through these rings ₁₅and were made of acacia wood covered with gold. ₁₆Everything that was to be set on the table was made of pure gold—the bowls, plates, jars, and cups for wine offerings.

₁₇Bezalel made a lampstand of pure gold. The whole lampstand, including its decorative flowers, was made from a single piece of hammered gold, ₁₈with three branches on each of its two sides. ₁₉There were three decorative almond blossoms on each branch ₂₀and four on the stem. ₂₁There was also a blossom where each pair of branches came out from the stem. ₂₂The lampstand, including its branches and decorative flowers, was made from a single piece of hammered pure gold. _23-24The lamp and its equipment, including the tongs and trays, were made of about thirty-five kilogrammes of pure gold.

₂₅For burning incense, Bezalel made an altar of acacia wood. It was forty-five centimetres square and ninety centimetres high with each of its four corners sticking up like the horn of a bull. ₂₆He covered it with pure gold and put a gold edging around it. ₂₇Then below the edging on opposite sides he attached two gold rings through which he put the poles for carrying the altar. ₂₈These poles were also made of acacia wood and covered with gold.

₂₉Bezalel mixed the oil for dedication and the sweet-smelling spices for the incense.

₁When Jesus and his disciples came near Jerusalem, he went to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives and sent two of them on ahead. ₂He told them, “Go into the next village, where you will at once find a donkey and her colt. Untie the two donkeys and bring them to me. ₃If anyone asks why you are doing that, just say, ‘The Lord needs them.’ Straight away he will let you have the donkeys.”

₄So God's promise came true, just as the prophet had said,

₆The disciples left and did what Jesus had told them to do. ₇They brought the donkey and its colt and laid some clothes on their backs. Then Jesus got on.

₈Many people spread clothes in the road, while others put down branches which they had cut from trees. ₉Some people walked ahead of Jesus and others followed behind. They were all shouting,

₁₀When Jesus came to Jerusalem, everyone in the city was excited and asked, “Who can this be?”

₁₁The crowd answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

₁₂Jesus went into the temple and chased out everyone who was selling or buying. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of the ones who were selling doves. ₁₃He told them, “The Scriptures say, ‘My house should be called a place of worship.’ But you have turned it into a place where robbers hide.”

₁₄Blind and lame people came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them. ₁₅But the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses were angry when they saw his miracles and heard the children shouting praises to the Son of David. ₁₆The men said to Jesus, “Don't you hear what those children are saying?”

“Yes, I do!” Jesus answered. “Don't you know that the Scriptures say, ‘Children and infants will sing praises’?” ₁₇Then Jesus left the city and went out to the village of Bethany, where he spent the night.

₁₈When Jesus got up the next morning, he was hungry. He started out for the city, ₁₉and along the way he saw a fig tree. But when he came to it, he found only leaves and no figs. So he told the tree, “You will never again grow any fruit!” At once the fig tree dried up.

₂₀The disciples were shocked when they saw how quickly the tree had dried up. ₂₁But Jesus said to them, “If you have faith and don't doubt, I promise that you can do what I did to this tree. And you will be able to do even more. You can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will. ₂₂If you have faith when you pray, you will be given whatever you ask for.”