One Year Bible.

The Bronze Altar

¹“You are to build an altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. ²Make a horn on each of its four corners, so that the horns are of one piece, and overlay it with bronze.

³Make all its utensils of bronze — its pots for removing ashes, its shovels, its sprinkling bowls, its meat forks, and its firepans. ⁴Construct for it a grate of bronze mesh, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the mesh. ⁵Set the grate beneath the ledge of the altar, so that the mesh comes halfway up the altar.

⁶Additionally, make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze. ⁷The poles are to be inserted into the rings so that the poles are on two sides of the altar when it is carried.

⁸Construct the altar with boards so that it is hollow. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

The Courtyard

⁹You are also to make a courtyard for the tabernacle. On the south side of the courtyard make curtains of finely spun linen, a hundred cubits long on one side, ¹⁰with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and silver hooks and bands on the posts.

¹¹Likewise there are to be curtains on the north side, a hundred cubits long, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. ¹²The curtains on the west side of the courtyard shall be fifty cubits wide, with ten posts and ten bases.

¹³The east side of the courtyard, toward the sunrise, is to be fifty cubits wide. ¹⁴Make the curtains on one side fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases, ¹⁵and the curtains on the other side fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases.

¹⁶The gate of the courtyard shall be twenty cubits long, with a curtain embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. It shall have four posts and four bases.

¹⁷All the posts around the courtyard shall have silver bands, silver hooks, and bronze bases. ¹⁸The entire courtyard shall be a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide, with curtains of finely spun linen five cubits high, and with bronze bases. ¹⁹All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, including all its tent pegs and the tent pegs of the courtyard, shall be made of bronze.

The Oil for the Lamps

²⁰And you are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.

²¹In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites for the generations to come.[’’]

The Choosing of the Seven

¹In those days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Grecian Jews among them began to grumble against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

²So the Twelve summoned all the disciples and said, “It is unacceptable for us to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. ³Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will assign this responsibility to them ⁴and will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

⁵This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, as well as Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. ⁶They presented these seven to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷So the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew rapidly, and a great number of priests became obedient to the faith.

The Arrest of Stephen

⁸Now Stephen, who was full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹But resistance arose from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. They disputed with Stephen, ¹⁰but they could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.

¹¹Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”

¹²So they stirred up the people, elders, and scribes and confronted Stephen. They seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin, ¹³where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. ¹⁴For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Josiah Renews the Covenant

¹Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ²And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets— all the people small and great— and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.

³So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.

Josiah Destroys Idolatry

⁴Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.

⁵Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem — those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.

⁶He brought the Asherah pole from the house of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and there he burned it, ground it to powder, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people. ⁷He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.

⁸Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which was to the left of the city gate. ⁹Although the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

¹⁰He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech. ¹¹And he removed from the entrance to the house of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the chamber of an official named Nathan-melech. And Josiah burned up the chariots of the sun.

¹²He pulled down the altars that the kings of Judah had set up on the roof near the upper chamber of Ahaz, and the altars that Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD. The king pulverized them there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.

¹³The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ¹⁴He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.

¹⁵He even pulled down the altar at Bethel, the high place set up by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. Then he burned the high place, ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole. ¹⁶And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it, according to the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who had foretold these things.

¹⁷Then the king asked, “What is this monument I see?”

And the men of the city replied, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar of Bethel.”

¹⁸“Let him rest,” said Josiah. “Do not let anyone disturb his bones.”

So they left his bones undisturbed, along with those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

¹⁹Just as Josiah had done at Bethel, so also in the cities of Samaria he removed all the shrines of the high places set up by the kings of Israel who had provoked the LORD to anger. ²⁰On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Restores the Passover

²¹The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

²²No such Passover had been observed from the days of the judges who had governed Israel through all the days of the kings of Israel and Judah. ²³But in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem.

²⁴Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to carry out the words of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD.

²⁵Neither before nor after Josiah was there any king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Law of Moses.

²⁶Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the fury of His burning anger, which was kindled against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke Him to anger. ²⁷For the LORD had said, “I will remove Judah from My sight, just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”

The Death of Josiah

²⁸As for the rest of the acts of Josiah and all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²⁹During Josiah’s reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went out to confront him, but Neco faced him and killed him at Megiddo.

³⁰From Megiddo his servants carried his body in a chariot, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

Jehoahaz Succeeds Josiah

³¹Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. ³²And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.

³³And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ³⁴Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, where he died.

³⁵So Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold to Pharaoh Neco, but to meet Pharaoh’s demand he taxed the land and exacted the silver and the gold from the people, each according to his wealth.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah

³⁶Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. ³⁷And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

¹After this, Jesus crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee ( that is, the Sea of Tiberias ). ²A large crowd followed Him because they saw the signs He was performing on the sick. ³Then Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down with His disciples.

⁴Now the Jewish Feast of the Passover was near. ⁵When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶But He was asking this to test him, for He knew what He was about to do.

⁷Philip answered, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a small piece.”

⁸One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ⁹“Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two small fish. But what difference will these make among so many?”

¹⁰“Have the people sit down,” Jesus said. Now there was plenty of grass in that place, so the men sat down, about five thousand of them.

¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves and the fish, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted.

¹²And when everyone was full, He said to His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over, so that nothing will be wasted.”

¹³So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴When the people saw the sign that Jesus had performed, they began to say, “Truly this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵Then Jesus, realizing that they were about to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a 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 already dark, and Jesus had not yet gone out to them. ¹⁸A strong wind was blowing, and the sea grew agitated.

¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the sea — and they were terrified. ²⁰But Jesus spoke up: “It is I; do not be afraid.” ²¹Then they were willing to take Him into the boat, and at once the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

Jesus the Bread of Life

²²The next day, the crowd that had remained on the other side of the sea realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded it with His disciples, but they had gone away alone. ²³However, some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum to look for Him. ²⁵When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they asked Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”

²⁶Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it is not because you saw these signs that you are looking for Me, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”

²⁸Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”

²⁹Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”

³⁰So they asked Him, “What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do? ³¹Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³²Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴“Sir,” they said, “give us this bread at all times.”

³⁵Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. ³⁶But as I stated, you have seen Me and still you do not believe.

³⁷Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.

³⁹And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

⁴¹At this, the Jews began to grumble about Jesus because He had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They were asking, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can He say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

⁴³“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus replied. ⁴⁴“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me — ⁴⁶not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only He has seen the Father.

⁴⁷Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.”

⁵²At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink.

⁵⁶Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your fathers, who ate the manna and died, the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Many Disciples Turn Back

⁵⁹Jesus said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. ⁶⁰On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹Aware that His disciples were grumbling about this teaching, Jesus asked them, “Does this offend you? ⁶²Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before?

⁶³The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. ⁶⁴However, there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him.)

⁶⁵Then Jesus said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has granted it to him.”

⁶⁶From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.

Peter’s Confession of Faith

⁶⁷So Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you want to leave too?”

⁶⁸Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰Jesus answered them, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” ⁷¹He was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. For although Judas was one of the Twelve, he was later to betray Jesus.