Old/New Testament

Chapter 27

Altar of Burnt Offering. ¹ “You shall make an altar out of acacia wood. It is to be five cubits long and five cubits wide. The altar shall be square and be three cubits high. ² Make horns^[a] for its four corners and the horns and altar are one piece. You shall then cover it with bronze. ³ Fashion vessels to take away its ashes, as well as shovels, and basins, and forks, and fire pans. All of its utensils are to be made of bronze. ⁴ Make a grating for it, a network of bronze. Upon the net you shall fashion four rings made of bronze at its four corners. ⁵ Set it under the edge of the altar so that the net will hang halfway down the altar. ⁶ You shall also make poles for the altar. They shall be made of acacia wood covered with bronze. ⁷ The poles are to be placed through the rings, so that they are on either side of the altar for carrying it. ⁸ Make the altar with boards, hollow in the middle. It is to be made just as was shown to you on the mountain.

The Courtyard. ⁹ “You shall make a courtyard^[b] for the tabernacle. On the south side there shall be a drape of fine twisted linen, one hundred cubits long, to form the first side. ¹⁰ There are to be twenty columns with twenty bronze bases. The hooks of the pillars and their rings are to be made of silver.

¹¹ “Likewise on the north side, there must be a drape one hundred cubits long, its twenty pillars with their twenty bronze bases. The hooks of the pillars and their rings are to be made of silver. ¹² Along the width of the courtyard on the west side there shall be fifty cubits of drapes with ten columns and ten bases. ¹³ The width of the courtyard on the east side shall be fifty cubits. ¹⁴ On one side there are to be fifteen cubits of drapes with three columns and three bases, ¹⁵ and on the other side there are to be fifteen cubits of drapes with three columns and three bases.

¹⁶ “For the gate of the courtyard there shall be a curtain twenty cubits long, made of blue and purple and scarlet cloth and fine twisted linen with four columns and their four bases. ¹⁷ All the columns around the courtyard are to be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be made of silver and their bases of bronze. ¹⁸ The length of the courtyard must be one hundred cubits, the width fifty, and the height five cubits, made of fine twisted linen with the bases made of bronze. ¹⁹ All the utensils of the tabernacle for whatever use and all the pegs of the courtyard are to be made of bronze.

²⁰ The Oil for the Lampstand.“You shall order the children of Israel to obtain pure oil pressed from olives for the light, so that a lamp may burn continually. ²¹ It shall be in the meeting tent^[c] outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony. Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning so that it may be before the Lord. This is a statute for the children of Israel throughout all their generations.

Chapter 28

The Priestly Vestments. ¹ “Have Aaron, your brother, and his sons approach you. Take them from among the children of Israel to be your priests: Aaron and Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, his sons. ² You shall make sacred vestments for Aaron, your brother, for glory and beauty. ³ Speak to all the most expert artisans, those to whom I have given a spirit of wisdom, and they shall prepare vestments for Aaron, for his consecration, so that he might exercise his priesthood in my honor.

⁴ “These are the vestments that they shall make: the breastplate and the ephod,^[d] a robe, a checkered colored coat, a turban, and a sash. They will make sacred vestments for Aaron your brother and for his sons so that they may exercise their priesthood in my honor. ⁵ They must use gold, blue, purple, and scarlet cloth and linen.

The Ephod. ⁶ “They shall make the ephod with gold, blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine linen, the work of skillful craftsmen. ⁷ It will have two shoulder pieces attached to its two ends so that it may be joined together. ⁸ The skillfully woven band to bind it together shall be placed over it and be of the same quality and materials: blue, purple, and scarlet cloth and fine twisted linen.

⁹ “Take two pieces of onyx and engrave the names of the children of Israel on them. ¹⁰ Put six of their names on the first stone, and the other six names on the second piece, written in order of their birth. ¹¹ Engrave the names of the children of Israel on the two stones as an engraver engraves a signet ring. Insert them into settings of gold filigree. ¹² Set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the children of Israel. Thus, Aaron shall carry the names upon his shoulders^[e] before the Lord, as a memorial. ¹³ Also make settings of gold filigree ¹⁴ and two chains of pure gold that are twisted like cords. Then attach the chains to the settings.

¹⁵ The Breastplate.“You shall make a breastplate of judgment with skilled craftsmanship, the same as was used on the ephod. Make it of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet cloth and fine twisted linen. ¹⁶ It is to be square and doubled over, a span in length and a span in width. ¹⁷ Then cover it with settings of precious stones arranged in four rows. The first row shall have a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald. ¹⁸ The second row shall have a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond. ¹⁹ The third row shall have a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst. ²⁰ The fourth row shall have a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. Mount them in gold filigree settings. ²¹ The stones shall correspond to the names of the children of Israel. There are to be twelve, standing for their names, each with engravings like that of a signet ring, each of them corresponding to a name of one of the twelve tribes.

²² “On the breastplate make chains of pure gold in the shape of twisted cords. ²³ On the breastplate also make two golden rings and place the two rings at the edges of the breastplate.

²⁴ “Attach the two golden chains to the two golden rings on the edges of the breastplate. ²⁵ As for the two other ends of the chains, attach them to two filigree settings and fasten them to the front part of the shoulder pieces of the ephod. ²⁶ Make two golden rings and place them at the two edges of the breastplate, on the inside edge next to the ephod. ²⁷ Make another two golden rings and place them on the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at their bottom on the front side, next to the place where it is attached to the skillfully woven band of the ephod. ²⁸ Tie the rings of the breastplate to the rings on the ephod with a cord of blue material so that it may lie upon the skillfully woven band of the ephod and so that the breastplate may not pull away from the ephod.

²⁹ “Thus Aaron shall carry the names of the children of Israel over his heart on the breastplate of judgment whenever he enters the sanctuary. This will serve as a memorial before the Lord forever. ³⁰ Put the Urim and the Thummim inside the breastplate of judgment so that they will be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters into the presence of the Lord.^[f] Aaron will forever bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart whenever he enters into the presence of the Lord.

³¹ Other Priestly Vestments.“Make the robe for the ephod all in blue ³² with an opening in the middle for the head, with a woven border around the opening, like the opening of a garment, so that it may not be torn. ³³ On its hem you shall design pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet cloth, and fine twisted linen, all around its hem, with bells of gold between them ³⁴ so that there shall be a golden bell^[g] and a pomegranate alternating all around the hem of the robe. ³⁵ Aaron must wear it when he ministers as priest, and one will hear the sound it makes when he enters the sanctuary, into the presence of the Lord, and when he leaves it, lest he die.

³⁶ “You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave ‘Holy to the Lord’ on it as one engraves a signet ring. ³⁷ Attach it with a blue cord to the front part of the turban. ³⁸ It will be on Aaron’s forehead, so that Aaron may carry the weight of whatever guilt the children of Israel may incur in the holy things, when they consecrate their holy offerings. He will always wear it on his forehead so that they may be pleasing to the Lord.

³⁹ “Weave the checkered tunic of fine linen and make a turban of fine linen and a sash embroidered with needlework. ⁴⁰ Make tunics and sashes for the sons of Aaron as well as caps for them to give them honor and renown. ⁴¹ Put these garments on Aaron, your brother, and his sons. Then anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, so that they may serve as priests in my honor.

⁴² “Make linen undergarments to cover their nakedness. They must reach from their hips to their thighs. ⁴³ Aaron and his sons will put them on whenever they enter into the meeting tent or when they approach the altar to minister in the sanctuary, so that they may not incur guilt and die. This shall be a perpetual statute for him and his offspring forever.

Encounters at Jerusalem

Chapter 21

The Entry into Jerusalem.^{[a] 1} When they drew near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent off two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go to the village directly ahead of you, and as soon as you enter you will find a tethered donkey and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, tell them, ‘The Lord needs them.’ Then he will let you have them at once.” ⁴ This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the prophet:

⁶ The disciples went off and did as Jesus had instructed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their cloaks on their backs, and he sat on them.^{[c] 8} A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The crowds that preceded him and those that followed kept shouting:

¹⁰ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was filled with excitement. “Who is this?” the people asked, ¹¹ and the crowds replied, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

¹² Jesus Cleanses the Temple.^[e] Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those whom he found buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. ¹³ He said to them, “It is written:

¹⁴ The blind and the crippled came to him in the temple, and he cured them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the scribes witnessed the wonderful things he was performing and heard the children crying out in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became infuriated ¹⁶ and said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” Jesus replied, “Yes. Have you never read the text:

¹⁷ Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

¹⁸ The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree.^[g] Early the next morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Noticing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went over to it but found nothing on its branches except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never give forth fruit again!” And instantly the fig tree withered away.

²⁰ When the disciples witnessed this, they were stunned, and they asked, “How could that fig tree wither away in an instant?” ²¹ Jesus answered them, “Amen, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to this fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be accomplished. ²² Whatever you ask for in faith-filled prayer, you will receive.”