Bible Readings for February 13, 2013

Today our passages are Exodus 35:10–36:38; Matthew 27:32-66; Psalm 34:1-10; and Proverbs 9:7-8. The readings are the Contemporary English Version.

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Exodus 35:10-36:38 (Contemporary English Version)

¹⁰If you have any skills, you should use them to help make what I have commanded: ¹¹the sacred tent with its covering and hooks, its framework and crossbars, and its post and stands; ¹²the sacred chest with its carrying poles, its place of mercy, and the curtain in front of it; ¹³the table with all that goes on it, including the sacred bread; ¹⁴the lamp with its equipment and oil; ¹⁵the incense altar with its carrying poles and sweet-smelling incense; the ordination oil; the curtain for the entrance to the sacred tent; ¹⁶the altar for sacrifices with its bronze grating, its carrying poles, and its equipment; the large bronze bowl with its stand; ¹⁷the curtains with the posts and stands that go around the courtyard; ¹⁸the pegs and ropes for the tent and the courtyard; ¹⁹and the finely woven priestly clothes for Aaron and his sons.
   

Gifts for the LORD

 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 jewelry 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.
   

Bezalel and Oholiab

(Exodus 31.1-11)

 ³⁰Moses said to the people of Israel:    The LORD has chosen Bezalel ^[a] of the Judah tribe. ^31-33Not only has the LORD filled him with his Spirit, but he has given him wisdom and made him a skilled craftsman who can create objects of art with gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood. ³⁴The LORD is urging him and Oholiab ^[b] from the tribe of Dan to teach others. ³⁵And he has given them all kinds of artistic skills, including the ability to design and embroider with blue, purple, and red wool and to weave fine linen.

Exodus 36

 ¹The LORD has given to Bezalel, Oholiab, and others the skills needed for building a place of worship, and they will follow the LORD's instructions.     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.
   

The Curtains and Coverings for the Sacred Tent

(Exodus 26.1-14)

 ^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 fourteen yards long and two yards 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 fifteen yards by two yards 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.
   

The Framework for the Sacred Tent

(Exodus 26.15-30)

 ²⁰Acacia wood was used to build the framework for the walls of the sacred tent. ²¹Each frame was fifteen feet high and twenty-seven inches 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 southwest and northwest 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 center 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.
   

The Inside Curtain for the Sacred Tent

(Exodus 26.31-37)

 ³⁵They made the inside curtain ^[c] 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.    

Footnotes:

1. Exodus 35:30 Bezalel: See the note at 31.2.
2. Exodus 35:34 Oholiab: Hebrew " Oholiab son of Ahisamach."
3. Exodus 36:35 inside curtain: Separating the holy place from the most holy place.

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Matthew 27:32-66 (Contemporary English Version)

³²On the way they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and they forced him to carry Jesus' cross.
    ³³They came to a place named Golgotha, which means "Place of a Skull." ^{[a] 34}There they gave Jesus some wine mixed with a drug to ease the pain. But when Jesus tasted what it was, he refused to drink it. ³⁵The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled to see who would get his clothes. ³⁶Then they sat down to guard him. ³⁷Above his head they put a sign that told why he was nailed there. It read, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." ³⁸The soldiers also nailed two criminals on crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.
    ³⁹People who passed by said terrible things about Jesus. They shook their heads and ⁴⁰shouted, "So you're the one who claimed you could tear down the temple and build it again in three days! If you are God's Son, save yourself and come down from the cross!"
    ⁴¹The chief priests, the leaders, and the teachers of the Law of Moses also made fun of Jesus. They said, ⁴²"He saved others, but he can't save himself. If he is the king of Israel, he should come down from the cross! Then we will believe him. ⁴³He trusted God, so let God save him, if he wants to. He even said he was God's Son." ⁴⁴The two criminals also said cruel things to Jesus.
   

The Death of Jesus

(Mark 15.33-41; Luke 23.44-49; John 19.28-30)

 ⁴⁵At noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until three o'clock. ⁴⁶Then about that time Jesus shouted, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" ^[b] which means, "My God, my God, why have you deserted me?" ⁴⁷Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, "He's calling for Elijah." ^{[c] 48}One of them at once ran and grabbed a sponge. He soaked it in wine, then put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus. ⁴⁹Others said, "Wait! Let's see if Elijah will come ^[d] and save him." ⁵⁰Once again Jesus shouted, and then he died. ⁵¹At once the curtain in the temple ^[e] was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and rocks split apart. ⁵²Graves opened, and many of God's people were raised to life. ⁵³Then after Jesus had risen to life, they came out of their graves and went into the holy city, where they were seen by many people. ⁵⁴The officer and the soldiers guarding Jesus felt the earthquake and saw everything else that happened. They were frightened and said, "This man really was God's Son!"     ⁵⁵Many women had come with Jesus from Galilee to be of help to him, and they were there, looking on at a distance. ⁵⁶Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of James and John ^[f] were some of these women.

Jesus Is Buried

(Mark 15.42-47; Luke 23.50-56; John 19.38-42)

 ⁵⁷That evening a rich disciple named Joseph from the town of Arimathea ⁵⁸went and asked for Jesus' body. Pilate gave orders for it to be given to Joseph, ⁵⁹who took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. ⁶⁰Then Joseph put the body in his own tomb that had been cut into solid rock ^[g] and had never been used. He rolled a big stone against the entrance to the tomb and went away. ⁶¹All this time Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb.     ⁶²On the next day, which was a Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees went together to Pilate. ⁶³They said, "Sir, we remember what that liar said while he was still alive. He claimed that in three days he would come back from death. ⁶⁴So please order the tomb to be carefully guarded for three days. If you don't, his disciples may come and steal his body. They will tell the people that he has been raised to life, and this last lie will be worse than the first one." ^{[h] 65}Pilate said to them, "All right, take some of your soldiers and guard the tomb as well as you know how." ⁶⁶So they sealed it tight and placed soldiers there to guard it.
   

Footnotes:

1. Matthew 27:33 Place of a Skull: The place was probably given this name because it was near a large rock in the shape of a human skull.
2. Matthew 27:46 Eli. . . sabachthani: These words are in Hebrew.
3. Matthew 27:47 Elijah: In Aramaic the name "Elijah" sounds like "Eli," which means "my God."
4. Matthew 27:49 Elijah will come: See the note at 16.14.
5. Matthew 27:51 curtain in the temple: There were two curtains in the temple. One was at the entrance, and the other separated the holy place from the most holy place that the Jewish people thought of as God's home on earth. The second curtain is probably the one that is meant.
6. Matthew 27:56 of James and John: The Greek text has "of Zebedee's sons" (see 26.37).
7. Matthew 27:60 tomb. . . solid rock: Some of the Jewish people buried their dead in rooms carved into solid rock. A heavy stone was rolled against the entrance.
8. Matthew 27:64 the first one: Probably the belief that Jesus is the Messiah.

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Psalm 34:1-10 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 34

(Written by David when he pretended to be crazy in front of Abimelech, so that Abimelech would send him away, and David could leave.)

Honor the LORD

 ¹I will always praise the LORD.     ²With all my heart,
   I will praise the LORD.
   Let all who are helpless,
   listen and be glad.
    ³Honor the LORD with me!
   Celebrate his great name.
    ⁴I asked the LORD for help,
   and he saved me
   from all my fears.
    ⁵Keep your eyes on the LORD!
   You will shine like the sun
   and never blush with shame.
    ⁶I was a nobody, but I prayed,
   and the LORD saved me
   from all my troubles.
    ⁷If you honor the LORD,
   his angel will protect you.
    ⁸Discover for yourself
   that the LORD is kind.
   Come to him for protection,
   and you will be glad.
    ⁹Honor the LORD!
   You are his special people.
   No one who honors the LORD
   will ever be in need.
    ¹⁰Young lions ^[a] may go hungry or even starve,
   but if you trust the LORD,
   you will never miss out
   on anything good.
   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 34:10 Young lions: In the Psalms wild animals often stand for God's enemies.

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Proverbs 9:7-8 (Contemporary English Version)

True Wisdom

 ⁷Correct a worthless bragger,    and all you will get
   are insults and injuries.
    ⁸Any bragger you correct
   will only hate you.
   But if you correct someone
   who has common sense,
   you will be loved.

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Verse of the Day

“God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.” - John 3:16

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

Sixteenth President of the United States Abraham Lincoln said, “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”