Daily Bible CEV February 27 Scroll

Judging Others
(Luke 6.37, 38, 41, 42)

Matthew 7 Don't condemn others, and God won't condemn you. ²God will be as hard on you as you are on others! He will treat you exactly as you treat them.

³You can see the speck in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the log in your own eye. ⁴How can you say, "My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye," when you don't see the log in your own eye? ⁵You're nothing but show-offs! First, take the log out of your own eye. Then you can see how to take the speck out of your friend's eye.

⁶Don't give to dogs what belongs to God. They will only turn and attack you. Don't throw pearls down in front of pigs. They will trample all over them.

Ask, Search, Knock
(Luke 11.9-13)

⁷Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. ⁸Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. ⁹Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? ¹⁰Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish? ¹¹As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.

¹²Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what the Law and the Prophets are all about.

The Narrow Gate
(Luke 13.24)

¹³Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. ¹⁴But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it.

A Tree and Its Fruit
(Luke 6.43-45)

¹⁵Watch out for false prophets! They dress up like sheep, but inside they are wolves who have come to attack you. ¹⁶You can tell what they are by what they do. No one picks grapes or figs from thornbushes. ¹⁷A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that produces bad fruit will be chopped down and burned. ²⁰You can tell who the false prophets are by their deeds.

A Warning
(Luke 13.26, 27)

²¹Not everyone who calls me their Lord will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only the ones who obey my Father in heaven will get in. ²²On the day of judgment many will call me their Lord. They will say, "We preached in your name, and in your name we forced out demons and worked many miracles." ²³But I will tell them, "I will have nothing to do with you! Get out of my sight, you evil people!"

Two Builders
(Luke 6.47-49)

²⁴Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock. ²⁵Rain poured down, rivers flooded, and winds beat against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on solid rock.

²⁶Anyone who hears my teachings and doesn't obey them is like a foolish person who built a house on sand. ²⁷The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the winds blew and beat against that house. Finally, it fell with a crash.

²⁸When Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were surprised at his teaching. ²⁹He taught them like someone with authority, and not like their teachers of the Law of Moses.

The Sacred Chest
(Exodus 25.10-22)

Exodus 37 Bezalel built a chest of acacia wood forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. ²He covered it inside and out with pure gold and put a gold edging around the top. ³He made four gold rings and fastened one of them to each of the four legs of the chest. ⁴Then he made two poles of acacia wood, covered them with gold, ⁵and put them through the rings, so the chest could be carried by the poles.

⁶The entire lid of the chest, which was also covered with pure gold, was the place of mercy. ^7-9On each of the two ends of the chest he made a winged creature of hammered gold. They faced each other, and their wings covered the place of mercy.

The Table for the Sacred Bread
(Exodus 25.23-30)

¹⁰Bezalel built a table of acacia wood thirty-six inches long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. ^11-12He covered it with pure gold and put a gold edging around it with a border three inches wide. ¹³He made four gold rings and attached one to each of the legs ¹⁴near the edging. The poles for carrying the table were placed through these rings ¹⁵and were made of acacia wood covered with gold. ¹⁶Everything that was to be set on the table was made of pure gold--the bowls, plates, jars, and cups for wine offerings.

The Lampstand
(Exodus 25.31-40)

¹⁷Bezalel made a lampstand of pure gold. The whole lampstand, including its decorative flowers, was made from a single piece of hammered gold, ¹⁸with three branches on each of its two sides. ¹⁹There were three decorative almond blossoms on each branch ²⁰and four on the stem. ²¹There was also a blossom where each pair of branches came out from the stem. ²²The lampstand, including its branches and decorative flowers, was made from a single piece of hammered pure gold. ^23-24The lamp and its equipment, including the tongs and trays, were made of about seventy-five pounds of pure gold.

The Altar for Burning Incense
(Exodus 30.1-5)

²⁵For burning incense, Bezalel made an altar of acacia wood. It was eighteen inches square and thirty-six inches high with each of its four corners sticking up like the horn of a bull. ²⁶He covered it with pure gold and put a gold edging around it. ²⁷Then below the edging on opposite sides he attached two gold rings through which he put the poles for carrying the altar. ²⁸These poles were also made of acacia wood and covered with gold.

The Oil for Dedication and the Incense
(Exodus 30.22-38)

²⁹Bezalel mixed the oil for dedication and the sweet-smelling spices for the incense.

The Altar for Offering Sacrifices
(Exodus 27.1-8)

Exodus 38 Bezalel built an altar of acacia wood for offering sacrifices. It was seven and a half feet square and four and a half feet high ²with each of its four corners sticking up like the horn of a bull, and it was completely covered with bronze. ³The equipment for the altar was also made of bronze--the pans for the hot ashes, the shovels, the meat forks, and the fire pans. ⁴Midway up the altar he built a ledge around it and covered the bottom half of the altar with a decorative bronze grating. ⁵Then he attached a bronze ring beneath the ledge at the four corners to put the poles through. ⁶He covered two acacia wood poles with bronze and ⁷put them through the rings for carrying the altar, which was shaped like an open box.

The Large Bronze Bowl
(Exodus 30.18-21)

⁸Bezalel made a large bowl and a stand out of bronze from the mirrors of the women who helped at the entrance to the sacred tent.

The Courtyard around the Sacred Tent
(Exodus 27.9-19)

^9-17Around the sacred tent Bezalel built a courtyard one hundred fifty feet long on the south and north and seventy-five feet wide on the east and west. He used twenty bronze posts on bronze stands for the south and north and ten for the west. Then he hung a curtain of fine linen on the posts along each of these three sides by using silver hooks and rods. He placed three bronze posts on each side of the entrance at the east and hung a curtain seven and a half yards wide on each set of posts.

^18-19For the entrance to the courtyard, Bezalel made a curtain ten yards long, which he hung on four bronze posts that were set on bronze stands. This curtain was the same height as the one for the rest of the courtyard and was made of fine linen embroidered and woven with blue, purple, and red wool. He hung the curtain on the four posts, using silver hooks and rods. ²⁰The pegs for the tent and for the curtain around the tent were made of bronze.

The Sacred Tent

^21-23Bezalel had worked closely with Oholiab, who was an expert at designing and engraving, and at embroidering blue, purple, and red wool. The two of them completed the work that the LORD had commanded.

Moses made Aaron's son Ithamar responsible for keeping record of the metals used for the sacred tent. ²⁴According to the official weights, the amount of gold given was two thousand two hundred nine pounds, ²⁵and the silver that was collected when the people were counted came to seven thousand five hundred fifty pounds. ²⁶Everyone who was counted paid the required amount, and there was a total of 603,550 men who were twenty years old or older.

²⁷Seventy-five pounds of the silver were used to make each of the one hundred stands for the sacred tent and the curtain. ²⁸The remaining fifty pounds of silver were used for the hooks and rods and for covering the tops of the posts.

²⁹Five thousand three hundred pounds of bronze were given. ³⁰And it was used to make the stands for the entrance to the tent, the altar and its grating, the equipment for the altar, ³¹the stands for the posts that surrounded the courtyard, including those at the entrance to the courtyard, and the pegs for the tent and the courtyard.

Our Thoughts Are Tested by the LORD

Proverbs 17 A dry crust of bread eaten in peace and quiet

is better than a feast eaten where everyone argues.

²A hard-working slave

will be placed in charge of a no-good child,

and that slave will be given the same inheritance

that each child receives.

³Silver and gold are tested by flames of fire;

our thoughts are tested by the LORD.

⁴Troublemakers listen to troublemakers,

and liars listen to liars.

⁵By insulting the poor, you insult your Creator.

You will be punished

if you make fun of someone in trouble.

⁶Grandparents are proud of their grandchildren,

and children should be proud of their parents.

⁷It sounds strange for a fool to talk sensibly,

but it's even worse for a ruler to tell lies.

⁸A bribe works miracles like a magic charm

that brings good luck.

⁹You will keep your friends if you forgive them,

but you will lose your friends

if you keep talking about what they did wrong.

¹⁰A sensible person accepts correction,

but you can't beat sense into a fool.

¹¹Cruel people want to rebel,

and so vicious attackers will be sent against them.

¹²A bear robbed of her cubs is far less dangerous

than a stubborn fool.

¹³You will always have trouble

if you are mean to those who are good to you.

¹⁴The start of an argument is like a water leak--

so stop it before real trouble breaks out.

¹⁵The LORD doesn't like those who defend the guilty

or condemn the innocent.

¹⁶Why should fools have money for an education

when they refuse to learn?

¹⁷A friend is always a friend,

and relatives are born to share our troubles.

¹⁸It's stupid to guarantee someone else's loan.

¹⁹The wicked and the proud love trouble

and keep begging to be hurt.

²⁰Dishonesty does you no good,

and telling lies will get you in trouble.

²¹It's never pleasant to be the parent of a fool

and have nothing but pain.

²²If you are cheerful, you feel good;

if you are sad, you hurt all over.

²³Crooks accept secret bribes

to keep justice from being done.

²⁴Anyone with wisdom knows what makes good sense,

but fools can never make up their minds.

²⁵Foolish children bring sorrow to their father

and pain to their mother.

²⁶It isn't fair to punish the innocent

and those who do right.

²⁷It makes a lot of sense to be a person of few words

and to stay calm.

²⁸Even fools seem smart when they are quiet.

These daily Bible readings from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. BibleCard® images copyright iCreative. All rights reserved.