Meditate

36. Making the Tabernacle

36

Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful one to whom the Lord has given skill and understanding 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 Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful one to whom the Lord had given skill, everyone whose heart was stirred to come to do the work;³and they received from Moses all the freewill offerings that the Israelites had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning,⁴so that all the artisans who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task being performed,⁵and said to Moses, “The people are bringing much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.”⁶So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing;⁷for what they had already brought was more than enough to do all the work.

Construction of the Tabernacle

⁸ All those with skill among the workers made the tabernacle with ten curtains; they were made of fine twisted linen, and blue, purple, and crimson yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked into them.⁹The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains were of the same size.

¹⁰ He joined five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he joined to one another.¹¹He 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;¹²he 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.¹³And he made fifty clasps of gold, and joined the curtains one to the other with clasps; so the tabernacle was one whole.

¹⁴ He also made curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven curtains.¹⁵The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the eleven curtains were of the same size.¹⁶He joined five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.¹⁷He 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.¹⁸He made fifty clasps of bronze to join the tent together so that it might be one whole.¹⁹And he made for the tent a covering of tanned rams’ skins and an outer covering of fine leather.

²⁰ Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood.²¹Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the width of each frame.²²Each frame had two pegs for fitting together; he did this for all the frames of the tabernacle.²³The frames for the tabernacle he made in this way: twenty frames for the south side;²⁴and he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases under the first frame for its two pegs, and two bases under the next frame for its two pegs.²⁵For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty frames²⁶and their forty bases of silver, two bases under the first frame and two bases under the next frame.²⁷For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six frames.²⁸He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear.²⁹They were separate beneath, but joined at the top, at the first ring; he made two of them in this way, for the two corners.³⁰There were eight frames with their bases of silver: sixteen bases, under every frame two bases.

³¹ He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle,³²and 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.³³He made the middle bar to pass through from end to end halfway up the frames.³⁴And he overlaid the frames with gold, and made rings of gold for them to hold the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

³⁵ He made the curtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it.³⁶For 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.³⁷He also made a screen for the entrance to the tent, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen, embroidered with needlework;³⁸and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their bases with gold, but their five bases were of bronze.

2. Wisdom From the Spirit

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

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When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom.²For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.³And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.⁴My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,⁵so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

91. Psalm 91

Psalm 91

Assurance of God’s Protection

1

You who live in the shelter of the Most High,

who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,

2

will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;

my God, in whom I trust.”

3

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence;

4

he will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

5

You will not fear the terror of the night,

or the arrow that flies by day,

6

or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7

A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

8

You will only look with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.

9

Because you have made the Lord your refuge,

the Most High your dwelling place,

10

no evil shall befall you,

no scourge come near your tent.

11

For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

12

On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.

13

You will tread on the lion and the adder,

the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

14

Those who love me, I will deliver;

I will protect those who know my name.

15

When they call to me, I will answer them;

I will be with them in trouble,

I will rescue them and honor them.

16

With long life I will satisfy them,

and show them my salvation.