Day 48 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 33:9–17

⁹For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. ¹⁰The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples. ¹¹The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. ¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance! ¹³The LORD looks down from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. ¹⁴From His dwelling place He gazes on all who inhabit the earth. ¹⁵He shapes the hearts of each; He considers all their works. ¹⁶No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength. ¹⁷A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save.

New Testament·Matthew 27:41–66

⁴¹In the same way, the chief priests, scribes, and elders mocked Him, saying, ⁴²“He saved others, but He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. ⁴³He trusts in God. Let God deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴In the same way, even the robbers who were crucified with Him berated Him. ⁴⁵From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ⁴⁷When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He is calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸One of them quickly ran and brought a sponge. He filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed, and held it up for Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹But the others said, “Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him.” ⁵⁰When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit. ⁵¹At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. ⁵²The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. ⁵³After Jesus’ resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people. ⁵⁴When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.” ⁵⁵And many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to minister to Him. ⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. ⁵⁷When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself was a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸He went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. ⁶²The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and Pharisees assembled before Pilate. ⁶³“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while He was alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴So give the order that the tomb be secured until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him away and tell the people He has risen from the dead. And this last deception would be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵“You have a guard,” Pilate said. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶So they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and posting the guard.

Old Testament·Exodus 35–36

¹Then Moses assembled the whole congregation of Israel and said to them, “These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do: ²For six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on that day must be put to death. ³Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.” ⁴Moses also told the whole congregation of Israel, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ⁵Take from among you an offering to the LORD. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring an offering to the LORD: gold, silver, and bronze; ⁶blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; ⁷ram skins dyed red and fine leather; acacia wood; ⁸olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; ⁹and onyx stones and gemstones to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. ¹⁰Let every skilled craftsman among you come and make everything that the LORD has commanded: ¹¹the tabernacle with its tent and covering, its clasps and frames, its crossbars, posts, and bases; ¹²the ark with its poles and mercy seat, and the veil to shield it; ¹³the table with its poles, all its utensils, and the Bread of the Presence; ¹⁴the lampstand for light with its accessories and lamps and oil for the light; ¹⁵the altar of incense with its poles; the anointing oil and fragrant incense; the curtain for the doorway at the entrance to the tabernacle; ¹⁶the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its utensils; the basin with its stand; ¹⁷the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the curtain for the gate of the courtyard; ¹⁸the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard, along with their ropes; ¹⁹and the woven garments for ministering in the holy place—both the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons to serve as priests.” ²⁰Then the whole congregation of Israel withdrew from the presence of Moses. ²¹And everyone whose heart stirred him and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments. ²²So all who had willing hearts, both men and women, came and brought brooches and earrings, rings and necklaces, and all kinds of gold jewelry. And they all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD. ²³Everyone who had blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red, or articles of fine leather, brought them. ²⁴And all who could present an offering of silver or bronze brought it as a contribution to the LORD. Also, everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the service brought it. ²⁵Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun: blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen. ²⁶And all the skilled women whose hearts were stirred spun the goat hair. ²⁷The leaders brought onyx stones and gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece, ²⁸as well as spices and olive oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. ²⁹So all the men and women of the Israelites whose hearts prompted them brought a freewill offering to the LORD for all the work that the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do. ³⁰Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³¹And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of craftsmanship, ³²to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, ³³to cut gemstones for settings, and to carve wood, so that he may be a master of every artistic craft. ³⁴And the LORD has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. ³⁵He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and as weavers—as artistic designers of every kind of craft.

36“So Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person are to carry out everything commanded by the LORD, who has given them skill and ability to know how to perform all the work of constructing the sanctuary.” ²Then Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person whom the LORD had gifted—everyone whose heart stirred him to come and do the work. ³They received from Moses all the contributions that the Israelites had brought to carry out the service of constructing the sanctuary. Meanwhile, the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning, ⁴so that all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work ⁵and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD has commanded us to do.” ⁶After Moses had given an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “No man or woman should make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing more, ⁷since what they already had was more than enough to perform all the work. ⁸All the skilled craftsmen among the workmen made the ten curtains for the tabernacle. They were made of finely spun linen, as well as blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with cherubim skillfully worked into them. ⁹Each curtain was twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide; all the curtains were the same size. ¹⁰And he joined five of the curtains together, and the other five he joined as well. ¹¹He made loops of blue material on the edge of the end curtain in the first set, and also on the end curtain in the second set. ¹²He made fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the second set, so that the loops lined up opposite one another. ¹³He also made fifty gold clasps to join the curtains together, so that the tabernacle was a unit. ¹⁴He then made curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven curtains in all. ¹⁵Each of the eleven curtains was the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide. ¹⁶He joined five of the curtains into one set and the other six into another. ¹⁷He made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in the first set, and fifty loops along the edge of the corresponding curtain in the second set. ¹⁸He also made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together as a unit. ¹⁹Additionally, he made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of fine leather. ²⁰Next, he constructed upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. ²¹Each frame was ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ²²Two tenons were connected to each other for each frame. He made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. ²³He constructed twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle, ²⁴with forty silver bases to put under the twenty frames—two bases for each frame, one under each tenon. ²⁵For the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty frames ²⁶and forty silver bases—two bases under each frame. ²⁷He made six frames for the rear of the tabernacle, the west side, ²⁸and two frames for the two back corners of the tabernacle, ²⁹coupled together from bottom to top and fitted into a single ring. He made both corners in this way. ³⁰So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame. ³¹He also made five crossbars of acacia wood for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, ³²five for those on the other side, and five for those on the rear side of the tabernacle, to the west. ³³He made the central crossbar to run through the center of the frames, from one end to the other. ³⁴And he overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. He also overlaid the crossbars with gold. ³⁵Next, he made the veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it. ³⁶He also made four posts of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold, along with gold hooks; and he cast four silver bases for the posts. ³⁷For the entrance to the tent, he made a curtain embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen, ³⁸together with five posts and their hooks. He overlaid the tops of the posts and their bands with gold, and their five bases were bronze.