February 22 - Matthew 4, Exodus 25-27 and Proverbs 12
February 22 - Matthew 4, Exodus 25-27 and Proverbs 12
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Jesus and the Devil
 4Jesus answered, "The Scriptures say:
 'No one can live only on food.
 People need every word
that God has spoken.' "
5Next, the devil took Jesus to the holy city and had him stand on the highest part of the temple. 6The devil said, "If you are God's Son, jump off. The Scriptures say:
'God will give his angels
orders about you.
They will catch you
in their arms,
and you won't hurt
your feet on the stones.' "
7Jesus answered, "The Scriptures also say, 'Don't try to test the Lord your God!' "
8Finally, the devil took Jesus up on a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms on earth and their power. 9The devil said to him, "I will give all this to you, if you will bow down and worship me."
10Jesus answered, "Go away Satan! The Scriptures say:
'Worship the Lord your God
and serve only him.' "
11Then the devil left Jesus, and angels came to help him.
Jesus Begins His Work
12When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he went to Galilee. 13But instead of staying in Nazareth, Jesus moved to Capernaum. This town was beside Lake Galilee in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14So God's promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said,
 15"Listen, lands of Zebulun
and Naphtali,
lands along the road
to the sea
and east
of the Jordan!
Listen Galilee,
land of the Gentiles!
16Although your people
live in darkness,
they will see
a bright light.
Although they live
in the shadow of death,
a light will shine
on them."
17Then Jesus started preaching, "Turn back to God! The kingdom of heaven will soon be here."
Jesus Chooses Four Fishermen
18While Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers. One was Simon, also known as Peter, and the other was Andrew. They were fishermen, and they were casting their net into the lake. 19Jesus said to them, "Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish." 20Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him.
21Jesus walked on until he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father, mending their nets. Jesus asked them to come with him too. 22Right away they left the boat and their father and went with Jesus.
Jesus Teaches, Preaches, and Heals
23Jesus went all over Galilee, teaching in the Jewish meeting places and preaching the good news about God's kingdom. He also healed every kind of disease and sickness. 24News about him spread all over Syria, and people with every kind of sickness or disease were brought to him. Some of them had a lot of demons in them, others were thought to be crazy, and still others could not walk. But Jesus healed them all.
25Large crowds followed Jesus from Galilee and the region around the ten cities known as Decapolis. They also came from Jerusalem, Judea, and from across the Jordan River.
The Sacred Tent
2Tell everyone in Israel who wants to give gifts that they must bring them to you. 3Here is a list of what you are to collect: Gold, silver, and bronze; 4blue, purple, and red wool; fine linen; goat hair; 5tanned ram skins; fine leather; acacia wood; 6olive oil for the lamp; sweet-smelling spices to mix with the oil for dedicating the tent and ordaining the priests; 7and onyx stones for the sacred vest and the breastpiece. 8I also want them to build a special place where I can live among my people. 9Make it and its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.
The Sacred Chest
10Tell the people to build a chest of acacia wood forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. 11Cover it inside and out with pure gold and put a gold edging around the lid. 12Make four gold rings and fasten one of them to each of the four legs of the chest. 13Make two poles of acacia wood. Cover them with gold 14and put them through the rings, so the chest can be carried by the poles. 15Don't ever remove the poles from the rings. 16When I give you the Ten Commandments written on two flat stones, put them inside the chest.
17Cover the lid of the chest with pure gold. 18-19Then hammer out two winged creatures of pure gold and fasten them to the lid at the ends of the chest. 20The creatures must face each other with their wings spread over the chest. 21Inside it place the two flat stones with the Ten Commandments and put the gold lid on top of the chest. 22I will meet you there between the two creatures and tell you what my people must do and what they must not do.
The Table for the Sacred Bread
23Make a table of acacia wood thirty-six inches long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. 24-25Cover it with pure gold and put a gold edging around it with a border three inches wide. 26Make four gold rings and attach one to each of the legs 27-28near the edging. The poles for carrying the table are to be placed through these rings and are to be made of acacia wood covered with gold. 29-30The table is to be kept in the holy place, and the sacred loaves of bread must always be put on it. All bowls, plates, jars, and cups for wine offerings are to be made of pure gold and set on this table.
The Lampstand
31Make a lampstand of pure gold. The whole lampstand, including its decorative flowers, must be made from a single piece of hammered gold 32with three branches on each of its two sides. 33There are to be three decorative almond blossoms on each branch 34and four on the stem. 35There must also be a blossom where each pair of branches comes out from the stem. 36The lampstand, including its branches and decorative flowers, must be made from a single piece of hammered pure gold. 37The lamp on the top and those at the end of each of its six branches must be made so as to shine toward the front of the lampstand. 38The tongs and trays for taking care of the lamps are to be made of pure gold. 39The lampstand and its equipment will require seventy-five pounds of pure gold, 40and they must be made according to the pattern I showed you on the mountain.
Curtains and Coverings for the Sacred Tent
Exodus 26 Furnish the sacred tent with curtains made from ten pieces of the finest linen. They must be woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. 2Make each piece fourteen yards long and two yards wide 3and sew them together into two curtains with five sections each. 4-6Put fifty loops of blue cloth along one of the wider sides of each curtain, then fasten the two curtains at the loops with fifty gold hooks. 7-8As the material for the tent, use goat hair to weave eleven sections fifteen yards by two yards each. 9Sew five of the sections together to make one panel. Then sew the other six together to make a second panel, and fold the sixth section double over the front of the tent. 10Put fifty loops along one of the wider sides of each panel 11and fasten the two panels at the loops with fifty bronze hooks. 12-13The panel of goat hair will be a yard longer than the tent itself, so fold half a yard of the material behind the tent and on each side as a protective covering. 14Make two more coverings--one with ram skins dyed red and the other with fine leather.
The Framework for the Sacred Tent
15Build a framework of acacia wood for the walls of the sacred tent. 16Each frame is to be fifteen feet high and twenty-seven inches wide 17with two wooden pegs near the bottom. 18-21Place two silver stands under each frame with sockets for the pegs, so the frames can be joined together. Twenty of these frames are to be used along the south side and twenty more along the north. 22For the back wall along the west side use six frames 23-24with two more at the southwest and northwest corners. Make certain that these corner frames are joined from top to bottom. 25Altogether, this back wall will have eight frames with two silver stands under each one.
26-27Make five crossbars for each of the wooden frames, 28with the center crossbar running the full length of the wall. 29Cover the frames and the crossbars with gold and attach gold rings to the frames to run the crossbars through. 30Then set up the tent in the way I showed you on the mountain.
The Curtain inside the Sacred Tent
31-33Make a curtain to separate the holy place from the most holy place. Use fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool, and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. Cover four acacia wood posts with gold and set them each on a silver stand. Then fasten gold hooks to the posts and hang the curtain there.
34Inside the most holy place, you must put the sacred chest that has the place of mercy on its lid. 35Outside the curtain put the table for the sacred bread on the right side and the gold lampstand on the left.
36For the entrance to the tent, use a piece of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with fancy needlework. 37Cover five acacia wood posts with gold and set them each on a bronze stand. Then put gold hooks on the posts and hang the curtain there.
The Altar for Offering Sacrifices
Exodus 27 Use acacia wood to build an altar seven and a half feet square and four and a half feet high, 2and make each of the four top corners stick up like the horn of a bull. Then cover the whole altar with bronze, including the four horns. 3All the equipment for the altar must also be made of bronze--the pans for the hot ashes, the shovels, the sprinkling bowls, the meat forks, and the fire pans. 4-5Midway up the altar build a ledge around it, and cover the bottom half of the altar with a decorative bronze grating. Then attach a bronze ring beneath the ledge at the four corners of the altar. 6-7Cover two acacia wood poles with bronze and put them through the rings for carrying the altar. 8Construct the altar in the shape of an open box, just as you were shown on the mountain. The Courtyard around the Sacred Tent
9-15Surround the sacred tent with a courtyard one hundred fifty feet long on the south and north and seventy-five feet wide on the east and west. Use twenty bronze posts on bronze stands for the south and north and ten for the west. Then hang a curtain of fine linen on the posts along each of these three sides by using silver hooks and rods.
Place three bronze posts on each side of the entrance at the east and hang a curtain seven and a half yards wide on each set of posts. 16Use four more of these posts for the entrance way, then hang on them an embroidered curtain of fine linen ten yards long and woven with blue, purple, and red wool.
17-18The curtains that surround the courtyard must be two and a half yards high and are to be hung from the bronze posts with silver hooks and rods. 19The rest of the equipment for the sacred tent must be made of bronze, including the pegs for the tent and for the curtain surrounding the courtyard.
The Oil for the Lamp in the Holy Place
20Command the people of Israel to supply you with the purest olive oil. Do this so the lamp will keep burning 21in front of the curtain that separates the holy place from the most holy place, where the sacred chest is kept. Aaron and his sons are responsible for keeping the lamp burning every night in the sacred tent. The Israelites must always obey this command.
You Can't Hide behind Evil Proverbs 12 To accept correction is wise, to reject it is stupid. 2The LORD likes everyone
who lives right,
 but he punishes everyone
who makes evil plans.
3Sin cannot offer security!
But if you live right,
you will be as secure
as a tree with deep roots.
4A helpful wife is a jewel
for her husband,
but a shameless wife
will make his bones rot.
5Good people have kind thoughts,
but you should never trust
the advice of someone evil.
6Bad advice is a deadly trap,
but good advice
is like a shield.
7Once the wicked are defeated,
they are gone forever,
but no one who obeys God
will ever be thrown down.
8Good sense is worthy of praise,
but stupidity is a curse.
9It's better to be ordinary
and have only one servant
than to think you are somebody
and starve to death.
10Good people are kind
to their animals,
but a mean person is cruel.
11Hard working farmers have more
than enough food;
daydreamers are nothing more
than stupid fools.
12An evil person tries to hide
behind evil;
good people are like trees
with deep roots.
13We trap ourselves
by telling lies,
but we stay out of trouble
by living right.
14We are rewarded or punished
for what we say and do.
15Fools think they know
what is best,
but a sensible person
listens to advice.
16Losing your temper is foolish;
ignoring an insult is smart.
17An honest person
tells the truth in court,
but a dishonest person
tells nothing but lies.
18Sharp words cut like a sword,
but words of wisdom heal.
19Truth will last forever;
lies are soon found out.
20An evil mind is deceitful,
but gentle thoughts
bring happiness.
21Good people never have trouble,
but troublemakers
have more than enough.
22The LORD hates every liar,
but he is the friend of all
who can be trusted.
23Be sensible and don't tell
everything you know--
only fools spread
foolishness everywhere.
24Work hard, and you
will be a leader;
be lazy, and you
will end up a slave.
25Worry is a heavy burden,
but a kind word
always brings cheer.
26You are better off to do right,
than to lose your way
by doing wrong.
27Anyone too lazy to cook
will starve,
but a hard worker
is a valuable treasure.
28Follow the road to life,
and you won't be bothered
by death.
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This reading is from The
Holy Bible, Contemporary English Version, copyright © American
Bible Society, 1995.
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