91 passages · Humanity
God plants a garden in Eden and puts the man there. Trees grow, including the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and a river divides into four branches.
God places the man in the garden to work and care for it. He allows eating from every tree but forbids the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, warning of death.
After Joseph's birth, Jacob asks permission to go home. Laban wants him to stay, and Jacob proposes that his wages be the speckled and dark animals. Laban agrees, then removes those animals and moves them away.
Jacob senses Laban's changed attitude, and God tells him to return home. He explains to Rachel and Leah how Laban cheated him and how God has protected him, and they agree to go.
Jacob protests his innocence and lists his twenty years of faithful, hard service for Laban, including changed wages. He says God's help alone kept him from leaving empty-handed.
In Egypt, the Lord is with Joseph, and Potiphar puts him in charge of his whole household. God blesses Potiphar's house on Joseph's account.
God announces that he has chosen Bezalel of Judah and Oholiab of Dan, filled with his Spirit and skill, to make the tent, furnishings, priestly garments, oil and incense.
Moses gathers the congregation and reminds them of the Sabbath: six days of work, then complete rest. No work or fire-lighting on the seventh day.
Moses tells the people what the LORD commands: bring willing offerings of materials and let skilled craftsmen come make everything on the list, from the tabernacle to the priestly garments.
The people go and bring gold jewelry, yarn, linen, skins, wood, metals, gems, spices and oil. Skilled women spin yarn, and all whose hearts are willing, men and women, give.
Moses tells the people that the LORD has called Bezalel and Oholiab, filled them with skill and given them the ability to teach others, so they can do every kind of craft.
The craftsmen make the ten linen curtains with cherubim, the eleven goat-hair curtains, and the coverings of ram skins and leather. The description repeats the commands given earlier almost word for word.
The workers make the upright acacia frames, silver bases, crossbars and gold overlay, forming the walls of the tabernacle exactly as commanded.
Bezalel makes the gold-covered ark with its rings and poles, and the gold mercy seat with two hammered cherubim spreading their wings over it.
Bezalel makes the gold-covered table with its rim, rings and poles, and its gold plates, dishes, bowls and pitchers.
Bezalel makes the lampstand of one piece of hammered gold with six branches, almond-blossom cups, seven lamps and its tools, using one talent of gold.
Bezalel makes the gold-covered incense altar with its rings and poles, and also the sacred anointing oil and pure incense.
The Israelites complete all the work and bring every part of the tabernacle and garments to Moses. He inspects it, sees it was done as the LORD commanded, and blesses them.
God introduces his appointed feasts as sacred assemblies, beginning with the weekly Sabbath of rest. He then sets the dates for Passover and the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Levite men serve at twenty-five and retire from heavy work at fifty, though they may still assist.
Moses warns that when Israel is prosperous they may grow proud and credit their own strength, forgetting God. He reminds them God gives the power to gain wealth and that forgetting Him will bring destruction.
The LORD will defeat Israel's enemies, bless their barns and work, and make them his holy people. Other nations will see and stand in awe, provided Israel does not turn to other gods.
Moses blesses Zebulun and Issachar in their work, Gad's fierce strength, Dan as a lion's cub, Naphtali with favor, and Asher with abundance and security.
Ruth, with Naomi's permission, goes to glean behind the harvesters and happens on the field of Boaz, a relative of Elimelech. Boaz arrives, greets his workers, and asks his foreman who she is.
Solomon conscripts thousands of workers who rotate in shifts to Lebanon. Workers and craftsmen quarry stone and prepare timber for the temple foundation.
Solomon brings the bronze craftsman Huram from Tyre, who casts two decorated pillars for the temple porch and names them Jachin and Boaz.
Further families of Judah are listed, including Othniel, Caleb son of Jephunneh and the descendants of Shelah. Notes mention craftsmen, linen workers and royal potters.
The gatekeepers' work is described: guarding the entrance to the Tent as their fathers did, standing watch through the night and handling the utensils. Other Levites baked bread, prepared spices and served as musicians.
Solomon decides to build a house for God's Name and a palace for himself. He conscripts tens of thousands of workers to carry loads, cut stone, and supervise.
Solomon counts the foreign residents of Israel, finding over 153,000, and assigns them as porters, stonecutters, and supervisors.