The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁰ Every clever person who has special skills must come to help. They must make all these things that the Lord has commanded:

²⁰ After Moses had said this, all the Israelites went away. ²¹ Everyone who decided to offer a gift to the Lord brought the things that they wanted to give. They brought the things to make the Tent of Meeting and the things to use in it. They also brought materials to make the priests' special clothes. ²² Both men and women brought beautiful things because they wanted to do that. They brought gold things and jewels that they had worn. They included rings, necklaces and other beautiful things. When they brought their gifts, they lifted them up as an offering of gold to the Lord.

²³ Everyone who had blue, purple or red material, or good linen, brought it. They also brought goats' hair, red leather from sheep's skins and other kinds of good leather. ²⁴ Those who brought gifts of silver or bronze offered them to the Lord. Everyone who had acacia wood brought it to help with the Lord's work.

²⁵ All the women who knew how to make things used their hands to make material. They brought what they had made: blue, purple and red material and good linen. ²⁶ Other clever women used goats' hair to make cloth. They did that because they wanted to help.

²⁷ The leaders of the Israelites brought onyx stones and other jewels to fix on the ephod and on the breastpiece. ²⁸ They also brought spices and olive oil. These things were to burn in the lamps, and to make the special oil and the sweet incense.

²⁹ Many Israelites chose to offer gifts to the Lord. Men and women all brought the gifts that they had decided to bring. Moses had told them about the work that the Lord had commanded them to do. So they brought these things to help with the work.

Bezalel and Oholiab

³⁰ Then Moses said to the Israelites, ‘Listen! The Lord has chosen Bezalel, the son of Uri and the grandson of Hur. He belongs to the tribe of Judah. ³¹ The Lord has filled him with his Spirit so that he has special skills. He knows how to make many kinds of things. ³² He can draw pictures of beautiful things that he wants to make. He can use gold, silver and bronze to make them. ³³ He knows how to cut valuable stones and make them look beautiful. He knows how to cut wood into different shapes. He is very clever at all kinds of beautiful work.

³⁴ The Lord has chosen Oholiab to help Bezalel. Oholiab is the son of Ahisamach. He belongs to the tribe of Dan. Bezalel and Oholiab can teach other people how to make things. ³⁵ They have special skills to make all kinds of things. They can draw pictures of the things that they want to make. They can cut pictures in metal. They can use blue, purple and red material and good linen to make beautiful things with pictures on them. They are very clever at their work, so that the things that they make look beautiful.’

36 Then Moses said, ‘Bezalel and Oholiab will do the work that the Lord has commanded us to do. Everyone that the Lord has helped to have special skills will work with them. They will help to build the tabernacle and all the other special things that the Lord has commanded.’

² Then Moses called Bezalel, Oholiab and all the other people who had special skills to come together. The Lord had given them these skills and they wanted to start the work. ³ They received from Moses all the gifts that the Israelites had chosen to bring. They had brought gifts that would help to build the tabernacle and the other special things. The Israelites continued to bring more gifts to Moses every morning. ⁴ Then all the workers who had special skills stopped doing their work. They left their work on the tabernacle and they went to speak to Moses. ⁵ They said to Moses, ‘The people are bringing many more gifts than we need to finish the tabernacle, as the Lord commanded us to do.’

⁶ So Moses sent a message to everyone in the whole camp. He said, ‘No man or woman must offer any more gifts for the work of the tabernacle.’ When the people heard Moses' message, they did not bring any more gifts. ⁷ The workers already had more things than they needed to finish all the work.

The tabernacle

⁸ All the workers who had special skills made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They used very good linen, as well as blue, purple and red material. They made beautiful pictures of cherubs on the curtains. ⁹ All the curtains were the same size: 12 metres long and 2 metres wide. ¹⁰ The workers joined five of the curtains together. They did the same thing with the other five curtains. ¹¹ They made rings of blue material along the edge of the last curtain in each set of five curtains. ¹² They put 50 rings along the edge of the first set. They put another 50 rings along the edge of the second set. The rings on one curtain were opposite to the rings on the other curtain. ¹³ They made 50 small gold hooks to join the curtains together. So a single piece of curtain made the whole tabernacle.

¹⁴ The workers used goats' hair to make 11 more curtains to cover the tabernacle, like a tent.

¹⁵ The curtains were all the same size: 13.5 metres long and 2 metres wide. ¹⁶ They joined five of the curtains together to make one set. They joined the other six curtains to make another set. ¹⁷ They used material to make 50 rings along the edge of the end curtain in each set. ¹⁸ They made 50 bronze hooks to join the two sets of curtains together. It made a single tent. ¹⁹ They used red leather from sheep's skins to cover the tent. They used another kind of good leather to cover the red leather.

²⁰ They used acacia wood to make the boards that would hold up the tabernacle. ²¹ Each board was 4 metres high and 65 centimetres wide. ²² Each board had two wooden pegs, beside each other. They made all the boards for the tabernacle like this. ²³ They made 20 boards for the south side of the tabernacle. ²⁴ They used silver to make 40 heavy bases to hold up the boards. Two bases would hold up each board. The pegs on the boards fitted into holes in the bases. ²⁵ They made 20 boards for the north side of the tabernacle. ²⁶ They made 40 silver bases, two bases under each board.

²⁷ They made six boards for the west side, at the back of the tabernacle. ²⁸ They made two boards for the corners at the back of the tabernacle. ²⁹ They fixed the two boards together, from the bottom to the top. They used a ring to fix them together at the top. They made both corners in the same way. ³⁰ So there were eight boards at the back of the tabernacle and 16 silver bases, two bases under each board.

³¹ They used acacia wood to make bars to fix across the boards. They made five bars for the south side of the tabernacle, ³² five bars for the north side, and five bars for the west side at the back of the tabernacle. ³³ The bar that would go across the centre of the boards would reach from one end of the tabernacle to the other end. ³⁴ They used gold to cover the boards and to make rings for the boards. The rings would hold the bars in place across the boards. They also covered the wooden bars with gold.

³⁵ The workers used blue, purple and red material, and good linen to make a special curtain. A worker used special skills to make pictures of cherubs on it. ³⁶ They used gold rings to hang the curtain from four poles of acacia wood. They covered the poles with gold. They made four silver bases to hold the poles. ³⁷ They made a curtain for the entrance of the tent. They used blue, purple and red material and good linen to make it. A worker used special skills to make it, so that it looked beautiful. ³⁸ They made five poles to hold up this curtain. They fixed gold hooks to the poles. They covered the tops of the poles with gold. But they used bronze to make five bases to hold up the poles.

The soldiers kill Jesus on a cross

³² When they were going to that place, they met a man called Simon. He came from the city of Cyrene. The Roman soldiers told Simon that he must carry Jesus' cross. ³³ The soldiers took Jesus to the place that is called Golgotha. (Golgotha means the place of a skull.^[a] )

³⁴ They tried to give Jesus some wine to drink. They had mixed some medicine into the wine. Jesus tasted it, but he would not drink it. ³⁵ Then the soldiers fixed Jesus onto the cross. They took his clothes for themselves. They played a game to find out who would receive each piece of his clothes. ³⁶ Then the soldiers sat down and they watched Jesus carefully. ³⁷ Above his head they fixed a notice. This showed the reason why they were killing him. It said, ‘This man is Jesus, the king of the Jews.’ ³⁸ Then the soldiers also fixed two robbers to crosses near to Jesus. One robber was at Jesus' right side, and one was at his left side.

³⁹ The people who walked near there insulted Jesus. They laughed at him, ⁴⁰ and they said, ‘You said that you could destroy the temple and then build it again in three days. If you really are the Son of God, save yourself. Come down from the cross.’

⁴¹ The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law and the important Jews also laughed at him. ⁴² They said, ‘This man saved other people, did he? But he cannot save his own life! He says that he is the king of Israel. So he should come down from the cross now. Then we will believe in him. ⁴³ He says that he trusts in God. So if God wants him, God should save him now. He did say that he is the Son of God.’ ⁴⁴ Then the two robbers who were on the crosses next to Jesus also insulted him.

Jesus dies

⁴⁵ It was now midday. The whole country became dark for three hours. ⁴⁶ At about three o'clock in the afternoon, Jesus shouted loudly, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ That means, ‘My God, my God, why have you left me alone?’

⁴⁷ Some people who were standing there heard him. They said to each other, ‘He is shouting to Elijah.’

⁴⁸ One of these people ran quickly and he brought a piece of cloth. He poured cheap wine on it, and he put it on the end of a stick. He lifted it up to Jesus so that he could drink the wine from it. ⁴⁹ The other people said, ‘Wait! Now we will see if Elijah comes to save him.’

⁵⁰ Then Jesus shouted again with a loud voice, and after that he died.

⁵¹ At that moment, the curtain inside the temple tore completely into two parts. It tore from the top down to the bottom. The ground shook and rocks broke into pieces. ⁵² Places in the ground where people had buried dead bodies opened up. Many of God's people who had died now became alive again. ⁵³ After Jesus became alive again, those people came up out of those places. They went into God's city, Jerusalem. Many people saw them there.

⁵⁴ The captain and his soldiers had been watching Jesus. They saw the ground shaking. They saw everything that had happened. They were very frightened and they said, ‘It must be true! This man really was the Son of God.’

⁵⁵ There were also many women there. They were standing a long way away and they were watching these events. They had come with Jesus from Galilee to help him. ⁵⁶ Mary from Magdala was there. Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Mary the mother of Zebedee's sons, were also there.

Joseph from Arimathea buries Jesus' body

⁵⁷ That evening a rich man who came from a town called Arimathea went to Pilate. The man's name was Joseph, and he had become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ Joseph asked Pilate for the dead body of Jesus. Pilate told his soldiers to give Jesus' body to Joseph. ⁵⁹ So Joseph took Jesus' body. He put a clean piece of linen cloth around it. ⁶⁰ Then he put the body in a large hole in a rock. He had made the hole for his own body when he died. After he put Jesus' body there, he rolled a very big stone across the front of the hole to shut it. Then he went away. ⁶¹ Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James were there. They were sitting where they could see the hole in the rock where Joseph had put Jesus' body.

Soldiers watch the place where Joseph had buried Jesus

⁶² The next day was the Jewish day of rest. The leaders of the priests and the Pharisees met together with Pilate. ⁶³ They said to him, ‘Sir, that man told lies. When he was still living, he said, “Three days after I die, I will become alive again.” We know that is what he said. ⁶⁴ So you should tell some soldiers to watch the place where Joseph put Jesus' body. They should watch there for the next three days. Then his disciples cannot come to take his body away. If they did that, then they could say to the people, “God has caused Jesus to become alive again.” This will be worse than the lies that Jesus told when he was alive.’

⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, ‘OK. You may take a group of soldiers to watch the place. Let them fix the rock well, so that nobody can open it.’ ⁶⁶ So the Jewish leaders and the soldiers went to the place where Joseph had put Jesus' body. They fixed the big stone that closed the front of the hole with a seal. Then they would know if someone had moved it. The soldiers stayed there to watch the place very carefully.

David wrote this song when he made the Philistine king think that he was crazy. He wanted the king to send him away.^[a]

God is great!^[b]

⁷ If you warn a person who is proud, he will insult you. If you tell a wicked person that he is wrong, he will hurt you. ⁸ So do not warn proud people. They will only hate you.

But if you warn a wise person, he will love you.