The Bronze Altar

¹“You shall make the naltar of acacia wood, five cubits1 long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. ²And you shall make ohorns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and pyou shall overlay it with bronze. ³You shall make pots for it to receive its ashes, and shovels and basins and qforks and fire pans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. ⁴You shall also make for it a grating, a network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. ⁵And you shall set it under the ledge of the altar so that the net extends halfway down the altar. ⁶And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. ⁷And the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles are on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. ⁸You shall make it hollow, with boards. rAs it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall it be made.

The Court of the Tabernacle

⁹s“You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. ¹⁰Its twenty pillars and their twenty bases shall be of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. ¹¹And likewise for its length on the north side there shall be hangings a hundred cubits long, its pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. ¹²And for the breadth of the court on the west side there shall be hangings for fifty cubits, with ten pillars and ten bases. ¹³The breadth of the court on the front to the east shall be fifty cubits. ¹⁴The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. ¹⁵On the other side the hangings shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. ¹⁶For the gate of the court there shall be ta screen twenty cubits long, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. It shall have four pillars and with them four bases. ¹⁷All the pillars around the court shall be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their bases of bronze. ¹⁸The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, the breadth fifty, and the height five cubits, with hangings of fine twined linen and bases of bronze. ¹⁹All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, and all its pegs and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.

Oil for the Lamp

²⁰u“You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn. ²¹vIn the tent of meeting, woutside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

¹After this jJesus went away to the other side of kthe Sea of Galilee, which is lthe Sea of Tiberias. ²And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. ³Jesus went up on mthe mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. ⁴Now nthe Passover, the ofeast of the Jews, was at hand. ⁵pLifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to qPhilip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. ⁷rPhilip answered him, “Two hundred denarii1 worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” ⁸One of his disciples, sAndrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, ⁹“There is a boy here who has five tbarley loaves and two fish, but twhat are they for so many?” ¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” uNow there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. ¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, and vwhen he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹²And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” ¹³So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. ¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, w“This is indeed xthe Prophet ywho is to come into the world!”

¹⁵zPerceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus awithdrew again to bthe mountain by himself.

Jesus Walks on Water

¹⁶When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles,2 they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. ²⁰cBut he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” ²¹Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

I Am the Bread of Life

²²On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only done boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord ehad given thanks. ²⁴fSo when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and gwent to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, h“Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, iyou are seeking me, not because you saw jsigns, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷kDo not work for the food that perishes, but for lthe food that endures to eternal life, which mthe Son of Man will give to you. For on nhim God the Father has oset his seal.” ²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing pthe works of God?” ²⁹Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, qthat you believe in him whom rhe has sent.” ³⁰So they said to him, s“Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? ³¹tOur fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, u‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³²Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is vhe who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴They said to him, w“Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵Jesus said to them, x“I am the bread of life; ywhoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷zAll that athe Father gives me will come to me, and bwhoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸For cI have come down from heaven, not to do dmy own will but dthe will of him ewho sent me. ³⁹And fthis is the will of him who sent me, gthat I should lose nothing of hall that he has given me, but iraise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who jlooks on the Son and kbelieves in him lshould have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, m“I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They said, n“Is not this Jesus, othe son of Joseph, whose father and mother pwe know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me qdraws him. And rI will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets, s‘And they will all be ttaught by God.’ uEveryone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— ⁴⁶vnot that anyone has seen the Father except whe who is from God; he xhas seen the Father. ⁴⁷Truly, truly, I say to you, ywhoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸zI am the bread of life. ⁴⁹aYour fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and bthey died. ⁵⁰cThis is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it dand not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread ethat came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give ffor the life of the world is gmy flesh.”

⁵²The Jews then hdisputed among themselves, saying, i“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of jthe Son of Man and drink his blood, you khave no life in you. ⁵⁴Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood lhas eternal life, and mI will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood nabides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷As othe living Father psent me, and qI live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸rThis is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread3 the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹Jesus4 said these things in the synagogue, as he taught sat Capernaum.

The Words of Eternal Life

⁶⁰tWhen many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” ⁶¹But Jesus, vknowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? ⁶²Then what if you were to see wthe Son of Man xascending to ywhere he was before? ⁶³zIt is the Spirit who gives life; athe flesh is no help at all. bThe words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴But cthere are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus vknew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and dwho it was who would betray him.) ⁶⁵And he said, “This is why I told you ethat no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

⁶⁶fAfter this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. ⁶⁷So Jesus said to gthe twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have hthe words of eternal life, ⁶⁹and iwe have believed, and have come to know, that jyou are kthe Holy One of God.” ⁷⁰Jesus answered them, l“Did I not choose you, gthe twelve? And yet one of you is ma devil.” ⁷¹He spoke of Judas nthe son of Simon Iscariot, for ohe, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

¹yMy son, do not forget my teaching,

zbut let your heart keep my commandments,

²for alength of days and years of life

and bpeace they will add to you.

³Let not csteadfast love and dfaithfulness forsake you;

ebind them around your neck;

fwrite them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴So you will gfind favor and hgood success1

in the sight of God and man.

⁵iTrust in the Lord with all your heart,

and jdo not lean on your own understanding.

⁶In all your ways kacknowledge him,

and he lwill make straight your paths.

⁷mBe not wise in your own eyes;

nfear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

⁸It will be ohealing to your flesh2

and prefreshment3 to your bones.

⁹Honor the Lord with your wealth

and with qthe firstfruits of all your produce;

¹⁰then your rbarns will be filled with plenty,

and your vats will be bursting with wine.

¹¹sMy son, do not despise the Lord's discipline

or be weary of his reproof,

¹²for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,

as ta father the son in whom he delights.

Blessed Is the One Who Finds Wisdom

¹³uBlessed is the one who finds wisdom,

and the one who gets understanding,

¹⁴vfor the gain from her is better than gain from silver

and her profit better than wgold.

¹⁵She is more precious than xjewels,

and ynothing you desire can compare with her.

¹⁶zLong life is in her right hand;

in her left hand are ariches and honor.

¹⁷Her bways are ways of pleasantness,

and all her paths are peace.

¹⁸She is ca tree of life to those who dlay hold of her;

those who hold her fast are called blessed.

¹⁹eThe Lord by wisdom founded the earth;

by understanding ehe established the heavens;

²⁰by his knowledge fthe deeps broke open,

and gthe clouds drop down the dew.

²¹My son, hdo not lose sight of these—

keep sound wisdom and discretion,

²²and they will be ilife for your soul

and jadornment for your neck.

²³kThen you will walk on your way securely,

land your foot will not stumble.

²⁴mIf you lie down, you will not be afraid;

when you lie down, nyour sleep will be sweet.

²⁵oDo not be afraid of sudden terror

or of pthe ruin4 of the wicked, when it comes,

²⁶for the Lord will be your confidence

and will qkeep your foot from being caught.

²⁷rDo not withhold good from those to whom it is due,5

when it is in your power to do it.

²⁸sDo not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again,

tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.

²⁹tDo not plan evil against your neighbor,

who udwells trustingly beside you.

³⁰vDo not contend with a man for no reason,

when he has done you no harm.

³¹wDo not envy xa man of violence

and do not choose any of his ways,

³²for ythe devious person is an abomination to the Lord,

but the upright are zin his confidence.

³³aThe Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked,

but he bblesses the dwelling of the righteous.

³⁴Toward the cscorners he dis scornful,

ebut to the humble he gives favor.6

³⁵The wise will inherit honor,

but fools get7 disgrace.

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

¹Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ²I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those lwho seemed influential) the gospel that mI proclaim among the Gentiles, nin order to make sure I was not running or had not orun in vain. ³But even Titus, who was with me, pwas not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ⁴qYet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who rslipped in to spy out sour freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, tso that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that uthe truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶And from those vwho seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; wGod shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential xadded nothing to me. ⁷On the contrary, when they saw that I had been yentrusted with zthe gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised ⁸(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ⁹and when James and Cephas and John, vwho seemed to be apillars, perceived the bgrace that was given to me, they cgave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰Only, they asked us to remember the poor, dthe very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹But ewhen Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him fto his face, because he stood condemned. ¹²For before certain men came from James, ghe was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing hthe circumcision party.1 ¹³And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that their iconduct was not in step with jthe truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas kbefore them all, “If you, though a Jew, llive like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Justified by Faith

¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not mGentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that na person is not justified2 by works of the law obut through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, pbecause by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found qto be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹For through the law I rdied to the law, so that I might slive to God. ²⁰I have been tcrucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives uin me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, vwho loved me and wgave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God, for xif righteousness3 were through the law, ythen Christ died for no purpose.