Seven Chosen to Serve

1 Now in these days ^kwhen the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists¹ arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in ^lthe daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 ^mTherefore, brothers,² pick out from among you seven men ⁿof good repute, ^ofull of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But ^pwe will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, ^qa man full of faith and ^rof the Holy Spirit, and ^sPhilip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, ^ta proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and ^uthey prayed and ^vlaid their hands on them.

7 And ^wthe word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests ^xbecame obedient to ^ythe faith.

Gifts of Grace

3 For ^fby the grace given to me I say to everyone among you ^gnot to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, ^heach according to ⁱthe measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For ^jas in one body we have many members,¹ and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, ^kthough many, ^lare one body in Christ, and individually ^mmembers one of another. 6 ⁿHaving gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if ^oprophecy, ^pin proportion to our faith; 7 if ^qservice, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; ^rthe one who leads,² with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with ^scheerfulness.

Construction of the Tabernacle

30 ^gThen Moses said to the people of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with ^hskill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, 32 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, 33 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft. 34 And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has ^hfilled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.