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Exodus 36

The Tabernacle Underwritten
1 “Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the LORD has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the LORD has commanded.”
2 And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the LORD had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.
3 And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, 4 so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, 5 and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the LORD has commanded us to do.” 6 So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, 7 for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.
The Construction Proceeds
8 And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked.
9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains were the same size.
10 He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another.
11 He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set. 12 He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another. 13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole.
The Curtains of Goats' Hair
14 He also made curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains.
15 The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains were the same size. 16 He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain of the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the other connecting curtain. 18 And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together that it might be a single whole.
The Covering of Skins
19 And he made for the tent a covering of tanned rams' skins and goatskins.
The Boards and Sockets
20 Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood.
21 Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. 22 Each frame had two tenons for fitting together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle. 23 The frames for the tabernacle he made thus: twenty frames for the south side. 24 And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons. 25 For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty frames 26 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame and two bases under the next frame. 27 For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six frames. 28 He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear. 29 And they were separate beneath but joined at the top, at the first ring. He made two of them this way for the two corners. 30 There were eight frames with their bases of silver: sixteen bases, under every frame two bases.
The Bars
31 He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle,
32 and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle at the rear westward. 33 And he made the middle bar to run from end to end halfway up the frames. 34 And he overlaid the frames with gold, and made their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.
The Veil
35 He made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; with cherubim skillfully worked into it he made it.
36 And for it he made four pillars of acacia and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four bases of silver.
The Curtain for the Door
37 He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework,
38 and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals, and their fillets were of gold, but their five bases were of bronze.

Jeremiah 5

No One Is Just

1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
 look and take note!
Search her squares to see
 if you can find a man,
one who does justice
 and seeks truth,
that I may pardon her.
2 Though they say, “As the LORD lives,”

 yet they swear falsely.
3 O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?
You have struck them down,
 but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
 but they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
 they have refused to repent.

4 Then I said, “These are only the poor;
 they have no sense;
for they do not know the way of the LORD,
 the justice of their God.
5 I will go to the great
 and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the LORD,
 the justice of their God.”

But they all alike had broken the yoke;
 they had burst the bonds.

6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
 a wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
A leopard is watching their cities;
 everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
 their apostasies are great.

7 “How can I pardon you?
 Your children have forsaken me
 and have sworn by those who are no gods.
When I fed them to the full,
 they committed adultery
 and trooped to the houses of whores.
8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
 each neighing for his neighbor's wife.
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?
 → declares the LORD;
 and shall I not avenge myself
 on a nation such as this?

10 “Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
 but make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
 for they are not the LORD's.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
 have been utterly treacherous to me,
 → declares the LORD.
12 They have spoken falsely of the LORD
 and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
no disaster will come upon us,
 nor shall we see sword or famine.
13 The prophets will become wind;
 the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”

Judgment Proclaimed

14 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts:
“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire,
 and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
15 Behold, I am bringing against you
 a nation from afar, O house of Israel,
 → declares the LORD.
It is an enduring nation;
 it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
 nor can you understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is like an open tomb;
 they are all mighty warriors.
17 They shall eat up your harvest and your food;
 they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
 they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
your fortified cities in which you trust
 they shall beat down with the sword.”

18 “But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end of you.
19 And when your people say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
 proclaim it in Judah:
21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
 who have eyes, but see not,
 who have ears, but hear not.
22 Do you not fear me? declares the LORD.
 Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
 a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
 though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
 they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say in their hearts,
 ‘Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
 the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
 the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
25 Your iniquities have turned these away,
 and your sins have kept good from you.
26 For wicked men are found among my people;
 they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.
They set a trap;
 they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
 their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
28  they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
 they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
 and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 Shall I not punish them for these things?
 → declares the LORD,
 and shall I not avenge myself
 on a nation such as this”?


30 An appalling and horrible thing
 has happened in the land:
31 the prophets prophesy falsely,
 and the priests rule at their direction;
my people love to have it so,
 but what will you do when the end comes?

Job 8

Bildad: Job Should Repent
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2 “How long will you say these things,
 and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
3 Does God pervert justice?
 Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
4 If your children have sinned against him,
 he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
5 If you will seek God
 and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
6 if you are pure and upright,
 surely then he will rouse himself for you
 and restore your rightful habitation.
7 And though your beginning was small,
 your latter days will be very great.

8 “For inquire, please, of bygone ages,
 and consider what the fathers have searched out.
9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
 for our days on earth are a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
 and utter words out of their understanding?

11 “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
 Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
12 While yet in flower and not cut down,
 they wither before any other plant.
13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;
 the hope of the godless shall perish.
14 His confidence is severed,
 and his trust is a spider's web.
15 He leans against his house, but it does not stand;
 he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
16 He is a lush plant before the sun,
 and his shoots spread over his garden.
17 His roots entwine the stone heap;
 he looks upon a house of stones.
18 If he is destroyed from his place,
 then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way,
 and out of the soil others will spring.

20 “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
 nor take the hand of evildoers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
 and your lips with shouting.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
 and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

Acts 1

Prologue
1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,
2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The Ascension
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Matthias Replaces Judas
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.
13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,
16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

 “‘May his camp become desolate,
 and let there be no one to dwell in it’;
and

 “‘Let another take his office.’
21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.