Exodus 31 - 32, John 12, Psalms 69 - 70

Bezalel and Oholiab

31^aAnd Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“See, I have called by name Bezalel, the ^ason of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³“And I have ^afilled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in discernment, in knowledge, and in all kinds of ¹craftsmanship, ⁴to devise artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in ¹bronze, ⁵and in the cutting of stones ¹for settings, and in the carving of wood, in order for him to work in all kinds of ²craftsmanship. ⁶“And behold, I Myself have ¹appointed with him ^aOholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all who are ²wise at heart I have put ³wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded you: ⁷^athe tent of meeting, and ^bthe ark of testimony, and ^cthe ¹mercy seat upon it, and all the furniture of the tent, ⁸^athe table also and its ¹utensils, and the ^bpure gold lampstand with all its ²utensils, and ^cthe altar of incense, ⁹^athe altar of burnt offering also with all its ¹utensils, and ^bthe laver and its stand, ¹⁰the ¹^,^awoven garments as well, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, with which to minister as priests; ¹¹^athe anointing oil also, and the ^bfragrant incense for the holy place, they shall make them according to all that I have commanded you.”

The Sign of the Sabbath

¹²Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹³“But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘^aYou shall surely keep My sabbaths; for this is ^ba sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Yahweh who makes you holy. ¹⁴‘Therefore you shall keep the sabbath, for it is holy to you. ^aEveryone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵‘^aSix days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a ^bsabbath of complete rest, holy to Yahweh; ^cwhoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. ¹⁶‘So the sons of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to ¹celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant.’ ¹⁷“^aIt is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; ^bfor in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”

¹⁸When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses ^athe two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, ^bwritten by the finger of God.

The Golden Calf

32Then the people saw that Moses ^adelayed to come down from the mountain. So the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Arise, ^bmake us ¹gods who will go before us; as for ^cthis Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ²And Aaron said to them, “^aTear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴And he took this from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a ^amolten calf; and they said, “¹These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ⁵And Aaron looked and built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.” ⁶So the next day they rose early and ^aoffered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and ^bthe people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up ^cto play.

⁷Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go! Go down at once, for your people, whom ^ayou brought up from the land of Egypt, have ^bcorrupted themselves. ⁸“They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. ^aThey have made for themselves a molten calf and have worshiped it and ^bhave sacrificed to it and said, ‘¹^,^cThese are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” ⁹^aAnd Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are ^ba stiff-necked people. ¹⁰“Now then ^alet Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may consume them; and ^bI will make you a great nation.”

¹¹Then ^aMoses entreated ¹the favor of Yahweh his God and said, “O Yahweh, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? ¹²“Why should ^athe Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent concerning doing harm to Your people. ¹³“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You ^aswore by Yourself, and You said to them, ‘I will ^bmultiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and ^call this land of which I have spoken I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ¹⁴^aSo Yahweh relented concerning the harm which He said He would do to His people.

¹⁵^aThen Moses turned and went down from the mountain. And the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand, ^btablets which were written on both ¹sides; they were written on one side and the other. ¹⁶Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷Then Joshua heard the sound of the people ¹as they shouted. And he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” ¹⁸But he said, “It is not the sound of the cry of triumph,Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat;But the sound of singing I hear.”

¹⁹Now it happened, as soon as ¹Moses came near the camp, that ^ahe saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and ^bhe threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them ²at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰^aThen he took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.

²¹Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?” ²²And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, ^athat they are ¹prone to evil. ²³“Indeed ^athey said to me, ‘Make ¹gods for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ²⁴“And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and ^aI threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

²⁵Now Moses saw that the people were ¹out of control—for Aaron had ^alet them ²get out of control to be a derision among ³their enemies— ²⁶so Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for Yahweh, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. ²⁷And he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Every man among you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother and every man his friend and every man his ¹neighbor.’” ²⁸So ^athe sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. ²⁹Then Moses said, “¹Be ordained today to Yahweh—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”

³⁰Now it happened on the next day, that Moses said to the people, “^aYou yourselves have ¹committed a great sin; but now I am going up to Yahweh, perhaps I can ^bmake atonement for your sin.” ³¹Then Moses returned to Yahweh and said, “Alas, this people has ¹committed a great sin, and they have made ²^,^agods of gold for themselves. ³²“But now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out from Your ^abook which You have written!” ³³And Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, ^aI will blot him out of My book. ³⁴“But now go, guide the people ^awhere I told you. Behold, ^bMy angel shall go before you; nevertheless ^cin the day when I ¹punish, ^dI will ²punish them for their sin.” ³⁵^aThen Yahweh smote the people because of ^bwhat they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

Mary Anoints Jesus with Costly Perfume

12^aJesus, therefore, six days before ^bthe Passover, came to ^cBethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ²So they made Him a supper there, and ^aMartha was serving; and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. ³^aMary then took a ¹litra of ^bperfume of very costly pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴But ^aJudas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was going to ¹betray Him, *said, ⁵“Why was this perfume not sold for ¹three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” ⁶Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he ^ahad the money box, he used to take from ^bwhat was put into it. ⁷Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for ^athe day of My burial. ⁸“^aFor you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”

⁹Then the ^alarge crowd from the Jews learned that He was there. And they came, not because of Jesus only, but that they might also see Lazarus, ^bwhom He raised from the dead. ¹⁰But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; ¹¹because ^aon account of him ^bmany of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

The Triumphal Entry

¹²On the next day ^athe large crowd who had come to ^bthe feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, ¹³took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “^aHosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the ¹Lord, even the ^bKing of Israel.” ¹⁴And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, ¹⁵“^aFear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” ¹⁶^aThese things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus ^bwas glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him, and that they had done these things to Him. ¹⁷So ^athe crowd, who was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness about Him. ¹⁸^aFor this reason also the crowd went and met Him, ^bbecause they heard that He had done this ¹sign. ¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing; look, the world has gone after Him.”

Some Greeks Seek Jesus

²⁰Now there were some ^aGreeks among those who were going up to worship at ^bthe feast; ²¹these then came to ^aPhilip, who was from ^bBethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²²Philip *came and *told ^aAndrew; Andrew and Philip *came and *told Jesus. ²³And Jesus *answered them, saying, “^aThe hour has come for the Son of Man to ^bbe glorified. ²⁴“Truly, truly, I say to you, ^aunless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵“^aHe who loves his ¹life loses it, and he who ^bhates his ²life in this world will keep it to life eternal. ²⁶“If anyone ¹serves Me, he must follow Me; and ^awhere I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone ²serves Me, the Father will ^bhonor him.

The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up

²⁷“^aNow ^bMy soul has become dismayed; and what shall I say, ‘^cFather, ^dsave Me from ^ethis hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ²⁸“^aFather, glorify Your name.” Then a ^bvoice came from heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “^aAn angel has spoken to Him.” ³⁰Jesus answered and said, “^aThis voice has not come for My sake, but for your sake. ³¹“^aNow judgment is upon this world; now ^bthe ruler of this world will be cast out. ³²“And I, if I ^aam lifted up from the earth, will ^bdraw all men to Myself.” ³³But He was saying this ^ato indicate the kind of death by which He was about to die. ³⁴The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard from ^athe Law that ^bthe ¹Christ is to remain forever; and how do You say, ‘The ^cSon of Man must be ^dlifted up’? Who is this ^eSon of Man?” ³⁵So Jesus said to them, “^aFor a little while longer ^bthe Light is among you. ^cWalk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who ^dwalks in the darkness does not know where he goes. ³⁶“While you have the Light, ^abelieve in the Light, so that you may become ^bsons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and ¹^,^chid Himself from them. ³⁷But though He had done so many ¹signs before them, they still were not believing in Him, ³⁸so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “¹^,^aLord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the ²Lord been revealed?” ³⁹For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, ⁴⁰“^aHe has blinded their eyes and He ^bhardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and return and I heal them.” ⁴¹These things Isaiah said because ^ahe saw His glory, and ^bhe spoke about Him. ⁴²Nevertheless ^amany even of ^bthe rulers believed in Him, but ^cbecause of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, ¹for fear that they would be ^dput out of the synagogue; ⁴³^afor they loved the glory of men rather than the glory of God.

⁴⁴And Jesus cried out and said, “^aHe who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. ⁴⁵“^aAnd he who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. ⁴⁶“^aI have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷“And if anyone hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for ^aI did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸“^aHe who rejects Me and does not receive My words, has one who judges him; ^bthe word I spoke is what will judge him on ^cthe last day. ⁴⁹“^aFor I did not speak from Myself, but the Father Himself who sent Me ^bhas given Me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰“And I know that ^aHis commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak ^bjust as the Father has told Me.”

Save Me, O God

For the choir director. According to ¹Shoshannim. Of David.

Save me, O God,For the ^awaters have ²threatened my life.²I have sunk in deep ^aclay, and there is no foothold;I have come into deep waters, and a ¹^,^bflood overflows me.³I am ^aweary with my calling out; my throat is parched;My ^beyes fail while I wait for my God.⁴Those ^awho hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head;Those who would ¹destroy me ^bare powerful, being wrongfully my enemies;^cWhat I did not steal, I then have to restore.⁵O God, it is You who knows ^amy folly,And ¹^,^ball my guilt is not hidden from You.⁶May those who hope for You not ^abe ashamed through me, O Lord Yahweh of hosts;May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel,⁷Because ^afor Your sake I have borne reproach;^bDishonor has covered my face.⁸I have become ^aestranged ¹from my brothersAnd a foreigner to my mother’s sons.⁹For ^azeal for Your house has consumed me,And ^bthe reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.¹⁰When I wept ^ain my soul with fasting,It became my reproach.¹¹When I made ^asackcloth my clothing,I became ^ba byword to them.¹²Those who ^adwell at the gate moan about me,And I am ^bthe drunkards’ songs.¹³But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Yahweh, ^aat an acceptable time;O God, in the ^babundance of Your lovingkindness,Answer me with the truth of Your salvation.¹⁴Deliver me from the ^amire and do not let me sink;May I be ^bdelivered from ¹my foes and from the ²^,^cdeep waters.¹⁵May the ¹^,^aflood of water not overflow meNor the deep swallow me up,Nor the ^bpit shut its mouth on me.¹⁶Answer me, O Yahweh, for ^aYour lovingkindness is good;^bAccording to the abundance of Your compassion, ^cturn to me,¹⁷And ^ado not hide Your face from Your slave,For I am ^bin distress; answer me quickly.¹⁸Oh draw near to my soul and ^aredeem it;^bRansom me because of my enemies!¹⁹You know my ^areproach and my shame and my dishonor;All my adversaries are ¹before You.²⁰Reproach has ^abroken my heart and I am so sick.And ^bI hoped for sympathy, but there was none,And for ^ccomforters, but I found none.²¹They also gave me ¹^,^agall ²for my foodAnd for my thirst they ^bgave me vinegar to drink.²²May ^atheir table before them become a snare;And ¹^,^bwhen they are in peace, may it become a trap.²³May their ^aeyes darken so that they cannot see,And make their ^bloins quake continually.²⁴^aPour out Your indignation on them,And may Your burning anger overtake them.²⁵May their ¹^,^acamp be desolate;May none dwell in their tents.²⁶For they have ^apersecuted him whom ^bYou Yourself have struck down,And they recount the pain of those whom ^cYou have ¹wounded.²⁷Add ^ainiquity to their iniquity,And ^bmay they not come into ^cYour righteousness.²⁸May they be ^ablotted out of the ^bbook of lifeAnd may they not be ¹^,^crecorded with the righteous.²⁹But I am ^aafflicted and in pain;¹May Your salvation, O God, ^bset me securely on high.³⁰I will ^apraise the name of God with songAnd ^bmagnify Him with ^cthanksgiving.³¹And this will ^aplease Yahweh better than an oxOr a young bull with horns and hoofs.³²The ^ahumble ¹see it and are glad;You who seek God, ^blet your heart ²revive.³³For ^aYahweh hears the needyAnd ^bdoes not despise His who are prisoners.³⁴Let ^aheaven and earth praise Him,The seas and ^beverything that moves in them.³⁵For God will ^asave Zion and ^bbuild the cities of Judah,That they may dwell there and ^cpossess it.³⁶The ^aseed of His slaves will inherit it,And those who love His name ^bwill dwell in it.

O Yahweh, Do Not Delay

For the choir director. Of David. To bring to remembrance.

^aO God, hasten to deliver me;O Yahweh, hasten to my help!²^aLet those be ashamed and humiliatedWho seek my ¹life;Let those be turned back and dishonoredWho delight in ²evil against me.³^aLet those ¹turn back because of their shameWho say, “Aha, aha!”⁴Let those be joyful and glad in YouAll who seek YouAnd let them say continually,“Let God be magnified,”Those who love Your salvation.⁵But ^aI am afflicted and needy;^bHasten to me, O God!You are my help and my protector;O Yahweh, do not delay.