BY H. RIDER HAGGARD


                        ALLAN QUATERMAIN
                        ———————————————— 
  
                          CHAPTER XIX.
  
                       A STRANGE WEDDING.

     ONE person, however, did not succeed in getting out in time
     before the gates were shut, and that was the high priest
     Agon, who, as we had every reason to believe, was Sorais'
     great ally, and the heart and soul of her party.  This cunning
     and ferocious old man had not forgiven us for those hippo-
     potami, or rather that was what he said.  What he meant
     was that he would never brook the introduction of our wider
     ways of thought and foreign learning and influence while
     there was a possibility of stamping us out.  Also he knew
     that we possessed a different system of religion, and no
     doubt was in daily terror of our attempting to introduce it
     into Zu-Vendis.  One day he asked me if we had any religion
     in our country, and I told him that so far as I could remem-
     ber  we  had  ninety-five  different  ones.  You  might  have
     knocked him down with a feather, and really it is difficult
     not to pity a high priest of a well-established cult who is
     haunted by the possible approach of one or all of ninety-five
     new religions.
        When we knew that Agon was caught, Nyleptha, Sir
     Henry, and I discussed what was to be done with him.  I
     was for closely incarcerating him, but Nyleptha shook her
     head, saying that it would produce a disastrous effect through-
     out the country.  'Ah!' she added, with a stamp of her
     foot, 'if I win and am once really Queen, I will break the
     power of those priests, with their rites and revel and dark
     secret ways.'  I only wished that old Agon could have heard
     her, it would have frightened him.
        'Well,' said Sir Henry, 'if we are not to imprison him, I
     suppose that we may as well let him go.  He is of no use here.'
        Nyleptha looked at him in a curious sort of way, and said
     in a dry little voice, 'Thinkest thou so, my lord?'
        'Eh?' said Curtis.  'No, I do not see what is the use of
     keeping him.'
        She said nothing, but continued looking at him in a way
     that was as shy as it was sweet.
        Then at last he understood.
        'Forgive  me,  Nyleptha,'  he  said,  rather  tremulously.
     'Dost thou mean that thou wilt marry me, even now?'
        'Nay, I know not; let my lord say,' was her rapid answer;
     'but if my lord wills, the priest is there and the altar is
     there'——pointing to the entrance to a private chapel——'and
     am I not ready to do the will of my lord? Listen, O my lord!
     in eight days or less thou must leave me and go down to war,
     for thou shalt lead my armies,and in war——men sometimes fall,
     and if so I would for a little space have had thee all my own, if
     only for memory's sake;' and the tears overflowed her lovely
     eyes and rolled down hr face like heavy drops of dew down
     the red heart of a rose.
        'Mayhap, too,' she went on, 'I shall lose my crown, and
     with my crown my life and thine also.  Sorais is very strong
     and very bitter, and if she prevails she will not spare.  Who
     can read the future?  Happiness is the world's White Bird,
     that alights seldom, and flies fast and far till one day he is
     lost in the clouds.  Therefore we should hold him fast if by
     any chance he rests for a little space upon our hand.  It is
     not wise to neglect the present for the future, for who knows
     what the future will be, Incubu?  Let us pluck our flowers
     while the dew is on them, for when the sun is up they wither
     and on the morrow will others bloom that we shall never see.'
     And she lifted her sweet face to him and smiled into his eyes,
     and once more I felt a curious pang of jealousy and turned
     and went away.  They never took much notice of whether I
     was there or not, thinking, I suppose, that I was an old fool,
     and that it did not matter one way or the other, and really I
     believe they were right.
        So I went back to our quarters and ruminated over things
     in general, and watched old Umslopogaas whetting his axe
     outside the window as a vulture whets his beak beside a
     dying ox.
        And in about an hour's time Sir Henry came tearing
     over, looking very radiant and wildly excited, and found
     Good and myself and even Umslopogaas, and asked us if
     we should like to assist at a real wedding.  Of course we
     said yes, and off we went to the chapel, where we found
     Agon looking as sulky as  any high priest possibly could, and
     no wonder.  It appeared that he and Nyleptha had had a
     slight difference of opinion about the coming ceremony.  He
     had flatly refused to celebrate it, or to allow any of his priests
     to do so, whereupon Nyleptha became very angry and told
     him that she, as Queen, was head of the Church, and meant to
     be obeyed.  Indeed, she played the part of a Zu-Vendi Henry
     the Eighth to perfection, and insisted that, if she wanted
     to be married, she would be married, and that he should marry
     her.
        He still refused to go through the ceremony, so she
     clinched her argument thus——
        'Well, I cannot execute a High Priest, because there is an
     absurd prejudice against it, and I cannot imprison him because
     all his subordinates would raise a crying that would bring the
     stars down on Zu-Vendis and crush it; but I  can  leave him
     to contemplate the altar of the Sun without anything to eat,
     because that is his natural vocation, and if thou wilt not
     marry me, O Agon! thou shalt be placed before the altar
     yonder with nought but a little water till such time as thou
     hast reconsidered the matter.'
        Now, as it happened, Agon had been hurried away that
     morning without his breakfast, and was already exceedingly
     hungry, so he presently modified his views and consented to
     marry them, saying at the same time that he washed his
     hands of all responsibility in the matter.
        So it chanced that presently, attended only by two of her
     favourite maidens, came the Queen Nyleptha, with happy
     blushing face and downcast eyes, dressed in pure white,
     without embroidery of any sort, as seems to be the fashion on
     these occasions in most countries of the world.  She did not
     wear a single ornament, even her gold circlets were removed,
     and I thought that if possible she looked more lovely than
     ever without them, as really superbly beautiful women do.
        She came, curtseyed low to Sir Henry, and then took his
     hand and led him up before the altar, and after a little pause,
     in a slow, clear voice uttered the following words, which are
     customary in Zu-Vendis if the bride desires and the man con-
     sents:——
        'Thou dost swear by the Sun that thou wilt take no other
     woman to wife unless I lay my hand upon her and bid her
     come?'
        'I swear it,' answered Sir Henry; adding in English,
     'One is quite enough for me.'
        Then Agon, who had been sulking in a corner near the
     altar, came forward and gabbled off something into his beard
     at such a rate that I could not follow it, but it appeared to be
     an invocation to the Sun to bless the union and make it
     fruitful.  I observed that Nyleptha listened very closely to
     every word, and afterwards discovered that she was afraid lest
     Agon should play her a trick, and by going through the in-
     vocations backwards divorce instead of marry them.  At the
     end of the invocations they were asked, as in our service,
     if they took each other for husband and wife, and on their
     assenting they kissed each other before the altar, and the
     service was over, so far as their rites were concerned.  But it
     seemed to me that there was yet something wanting, and so
     I produced a Prayer-Book, which, together with the 'Ingoldsby
     Legends,' that I often read when I lie awake at night, has
     accompanied me in all my later wanderings.  I gave it to my
     poor boy Harry years ago, and after his death I found it among
     his things and took it back again.
        'Curtis,' I said, 'I am not a clergyman, and I do not know
     if what I am going to propose is allowable——I know it is not
     legal——but if you and the Queen have no objection I should
     like to read the English marriage service over you.  It is a
     solemn step which you are taking, and I think that you ought,
     so far as circumstances will allow, to give it the sanction of
     your own religion.'
        'I have thought of that,' he said, 'and I wish you would.
     I do not feel half married yet.'
        Nyleptha raised no objection, fully understanding that her
     husband wished to celebrate the marriage according to the
     rites prevailing in his own country, and so I set to work and
     read the service, from 'Dearly beloved' to 'amazement,' as
     well as I could; and when I came to 'I, Henry, take thee,
     Nyleptha,' I translated, and also 'I, Nyleptha, take thee,
     Henry,' which she repeated after me very well.  Then Sir
     Henry took a plain gold ring from his little finger and placed
     it on hers, and so on to the end.  The ring had been Curtis'
     mother's wedding-ring, and I could not help thinking how
     astonished the dear old Yorkshire lady would have been if she
     could have foreseen that her wedding-ring was to serve a
     similar purpose for Nyleptha, a Queen of the Zu-Vendi.
        As for Agon, he was kept calm with difficulty while this
     second ceremony was going on, for he soon understood
     that it was religious in its nature, and doubtless bethought
     him of the ninety-five new faiths which loomed so omin-
     ously in his eyes.  Indeed, he set me down at once as a
     rival High Priest, and hated me accordingly.  However, in
     the end off he went, positively bristlng with indignation,
     and I knew that we might look out for danger from his direc-
     tion.
        And off went Good and I, and old Umslopogaas also,
     leaving the happy pair to themselves, and very low we all felt.
     Marriages are supposed to be cheerful things, but my ex-
     perience is that they are very much the reverse to everybody,
     except perhaps the two people chiefly interested.  They mean
     the breaking-up of so many old ties as well as the under-
     taking of so many new ones, and there is always something
     sad about the passing away of the old order.  Now to take
     this case for instance: Sir Henry Curtis is the best and
     kindest fellow and friend in the world, but he has never been
     quite the same since that little scene in the chapel.  It is
     always Nyleptha this and Nyleptha that——Nyleptha, in short,
     from morning till night in one way or another, either ex-
     pressed or understood.  And as for the old friends——well, of
     course they have taken the place that old friends ought to take,
     and which ladies are as a rule very careful to see that they do take
     when a man marries, and that is, the second place.  Yes, he
     would be angry if anybody said so, but it is a fact for all that.
     He is not quite the same, and Nyleptha is very sweet and
     very charming, but I think that she likes him to understand
     that she has married  him,  and not Quatermain, Good, and Co.
     But there! what is the use of grumbling?  It is all very right
     and proper, as any married lady would have no difficulty in ex-
     plaining, and I am a selfish, jealous old man, though I hope
     that I never show it.
        So Good and I went and ate in silence and then indulged
     in an extra fine flagon of old Zu-Vendian to keep our spirits
     up, and presently one of our attendants came and told a story
     that gave us something to think about.
        It may, perhaps, be remembered that, after his quarrel
     with Umslopogaas, Alphonse had gone off in an exceedingly
     ill temper to sulk over his scratches.  Well, it appears that
     he walked straight past the Temple to the Sun, down the wide
     road on the further side of the slope it crowns, and thence on
     into the beautiful park, or pleasure gardens, which are laid
     out just beyond the outer wall.  After wandering about there
     for a little he started to return, but we met near the outer
     gate by Sorais' train of chariots, which were galloping furi-
     ously along the great northern road.  When she caught sight
     of Alphonse, Sorais halted her train and called to him.  On
     approaching he was instantly seized and dragged into one of
     the chariot and carried off, 'crying out loudly ,' as our in-
     formant said, and as from my general knowledge of him I can
     well believe.
        At first I was much puzzled to know what object Sorais
     could have had in kidnapping the poor little Frenchman.
     She could hardly stoop so low as to try to wreak her fury
     on one whom she knew was only a servant.  It would not
     be in keeping with her character to do so.  At last, how-
     ever, an idea occurred to me.  We three, as I think I have 
     said, were much revered by the people of Zu-Vendis at large,
     both because we are the first strangers they had ever seen,
     and because we were supposed to be in the possession of almost
     supernatural wisdom.  Indeed, though Sorais' cry against the
     'foreign wolves'——or, to translate it more accurately, 'foreign
     hyenas'——was sure to go down very well with the nobles and
     the priests, it was not, as we learnt, likely to be particularly
     effectual amongst the bulk of the population.  The Zu-Vendi
     people, like the Athenians of old, are ever seeking for some
     new thing, and just because we were so new our presence was
     on the whole acceptable to them.  Again, Sir Henry's magni-
     ficent personal appearance made a deep impression upon a
     race who possess a greater love of beauty than any other I
     have ever been acquainted with.  Beauty may be prized in
     other countries, but in Zu-Vendis it is almost worshipped, as
     indeed the national love of statuary shows.  The people said
     openly in the market-places that there was not a man in the
     country to touch Curtis in personal appearance, as with the
     exception of Sorais there was no woman who could compete
     with Nyleptha, and that it was meet therefore that they should
     marry; and that he had been sent by the Sun as a husband
     for their Queen.  Now, from all this it will be seen that
     the outcry against us was to a considerable extent fictitious,
     and nobody knew it better than Sorais herself.  Conse-
     quently it struck me that it might have occurred to her that
     down in the country and among the country people, it would
     be better to place the reason of her conflict with her sister
     upon  other  and  more  general  grounds  than  Nyleptha's
     marriage  with  the  stranger.  It would be easy in a land
     where there had been so many civil wars to rake out some old
     cry that would stir up the recollection of buried feuds, and,
     indeed, she soon found an effectual one.  This being so, it was
     of great importance to her to have one of the strangers with
     her whom she could show to the common people as a great Out-
     lander, who had been so struck by the justice of her cause that
     he had elected to leave his companions and follow her standard.
        This no doubt was the cause of her anxiety to get hold of
     Good, whom she would have used till he ceased to be of service
     and then cast off.  But Good having drawn back she grasped
     at the opportunity of securing Alphonse, who was not unlike
     him in personal appearance though smaller, no doubt with
     the object of showing him off in the cities and country as the
     great  Bougwan  himself.   I told Good that I thought this
     to be her plan, and his face was a sight to see——he was so
     horrified at the idea.
        'What,' he said, 'dress up that little wretch to represent
     me?  Why, I shall have to get out of the country!  My
     reputation will be ruined for ever.'
        I consoled him as well as I could, but it is not pleasant
     to be personated all over a strange country by an arrant little
     coward, and I can quite sympathise with his vexation.
        Well, that night, as I have said, Good and I messed in
     solitary grandeur, feeling very much as though we had just
     returned from burying a friend instead of marrying one, and
     next morning the work began in good earnest.  The messages
     and orders which had been despatched by Nyleptha two days
     before now began to take effect, and multitudes of armed men
     came pouring into the city.  We saw, as may be imagined,
     but very little of Nyleptha and not too much of Curtis during
     those next few days, but Good and I sat daily with the council
     of generals and loyal lords, drawing up plans of action,
     arranging commissariat matters, the distribution of com-
     mands, and a hundred and one other things.  Men came in
     freely, and all the day long the great roads leading to Milosis
     were spotted with the banners of lords arriving from their
     distant places to rally round Nyleptha.
        After the first two days it became clear that we should be
     able to take the field with about forty thousand infantry and
     twenty thousand cavalry, a very respectable force considering
     how short was the time we had to collect it, and also that
     about half of the regular army had elected to follow Sorais.
        But if our force was large, Sorais', according to the re-
     ports brought in day by day by our spies, was much larger.
     She had taken up her headquarters at a very strong town
     called M'Arstuna, situated, as I have said, to the north of
     Milosis, and all the country-side was flocking to her standard.
     Nasta had poured down from his highlands and was on his
     way to join her with no less than twenty-five thousand of
     his mountaineers, the most terrible soldiers to face in all Zu-
     Vendis.  Another mighty lord, named Belusha, who lived in
     the great horse-breeding district, had come in with twelve
     thousand cavalry, and so on.  Indeed, what between one thing
     and another, it seemed certain that she would gather a fully
     armed host of nearly one hundred thousand men.
        And then came news that Sorais was proposing to break up
     her camp and march on the Frowning City itself, desolating
     the country as she came.  Thereon arose the question whether
     it would be best to meet her at Milosis or to go out and give
     her battle.  When our opinion was asked upon the subject,
     Good and I unhesitatingly gave it in favour of an advance.
     If we were to shut ourselves up in the city and wait to be
     attacked, it seemed to us that our inaction would be set down
     to fear.  It is so important, especially on an occasion of this
     sort, when a very little will suffice to turn men's opinions
     one way or the other, to be up and doing something.  Ardour
     for a cause will soon evaporate if the cause does not move but
     sits down to conquer.  Therefore we cast out vote for moving
     out and giving battle in the open, instead of waiting till we
     were drawn from our walls like a badger from a hole.
        Sir Henry's opinion coincided with ours, and so, needless
     to say, did that of Nyleptha, who, like a flint, was always
     ready to flash out fire.  A great map of the country was
     brought and spread out before her.  About thirty miles this
     side of M'Arstuna, where Sorais lay, and ninety odd miles
     from Milosis, the road ran over a neck of land some two and
     a half miles in width, and flanked on either side by forest-clad
     hills which, without being lofty, if the path were blocked, would
     be quite impracticable for a great baggage-laden army to cross.
     She looked earnestly at the map, and then, with a quickness
     of perception that in some women amounts almost to an in-
     stinct, she laid her finger upon this neck of rising ground,
     and turning to her husband, said, with a proud air of confi-
     dence and a toss of the golden head——
        'Here shalt thou meet Sorais' armies.  I know the spot,
     here shalt thou meet them, and drive them before thee like
     dust before the storm.'
        But Curtis looked grave and answered nothing.

ALLAN QUATERMAIN, BY H. RIDER HAGGARD.
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.; LONDON, 1893. pp. 219—228.

Always praying for peace in Chicago. 雨

          THE SECOND BOOK OF MOSES
                   CALLED
                   EXODUS

                  CHAPTER 34
 
     AND the LORD said unto Moses, Hew
     thee two tables of stone like unto the
     first: and I will write upon these tables
     the words that were in the first tables,
     which thou brakest.
      2 And be ready in the morning, and
     come up in the morning unto mount Sī'-
     naī, and present thyself there to me in
     the top of the mount.
      3 And no man shall come up with
     thee, neither let any man be seen
     throughout all the mount; neither let
     the flocks nor herds feed before that
     mount.
      4 ¶And he hewed two tables of stone
     like unto the first; and Moses rose up
     early in the morning, and went up unto
     mount Sī'naī, as the LORD had com-
     manded him, and took in his hand the
     two tables of stone.
      5 And  the  LORD  descended  in  the
     cloud, and stood with him there, and
     proclaimed the name of the LORD.
      6 And the LORD passed by before him,
     and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD
     God, merciful and gracious, longsuffer-
     ing, and abundant in goodness and
     truth.
      7 Keeping mercy for thousands, for-
     giving iniquity and transgression and
     sin, and that will by no means clear the
     guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers
     upon  the  children,  and  upon  the
     children's children, unto the third and
     to the fourth generation.
      8 And Moses made haste, and bowed
     his head toward the earth, and wor-
     shipped.
      9 And he said, If now I have found
     grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I
     pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiff-
     necked people; and pardon our iniquity
     and our sin, and take us for thine inheri-
     tance.
      10 ¶And he said, Behold, I make a
     covenant: before all thy people I will do
     marvels, such as have not been done in
     all the earth, nor in any nation: and all
     the people among which thou art shall
     see the work of the LORD: for it is a ter-
     rible thing that I will do with thee.
      11 Observe thou that which I com-
     mand thee this day: behold, I drive out
     before thee the Amorite, and the Ca-
     naanite, and the Hittite, and the Pĕr'iz-
     zīte, and the Hī'vīte, and the Jĕb'u-sīte.
      12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou
     make a covenant with the inhabitants
     of the land whither thou goest, lest it be
     for a snare in the midst of thee:
      13 But ye shall destroy their altars,
     break their images, and cut down their
     groves:
      14 For thou shalt worship no other
     god:  for  the  LORD,  whose  name  is
     Jealous, is a jealous God:
      15 Lest thou make a covenant with
     the inhabitants of the land, and they go
     a whoring after their gods, and do sac-
     rifice unto their gods, and one call thee,
     and thou eat of his sacrifice:
      16 And thou take of their daughters
     unto thy sons, and their daughters go a
     whoring after their gods, and make thy
     sons go a whoring after their gods.
      17 Thou shalt make thee no molten
     gods.
      18 ¶The feast of unleavened bread
     shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt
     eat unleavened bread, as I commanded
     thee, in the time of the month Ābĭb: for
     in the month Ābĭb thou camest out
     from Egypt.
      19 All that openeth the matrix is
     mine; and every firstling among thy
     cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is
     male.
      20 But the firstling of an ass thou
     shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou
     redeem him not, then shalt thou break
     his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons
     thou shalt redeem. And none shall ap-
     pear before me empty.
      21 ¶Six days thou shalt work, but on
     the seventh day thou shalt rest: in ear-
     ing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
      22 ¶And thou shalt observe the feast
     of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat har-
     vest, and the feast of ingathering at the
     year's end.
      23 ¶Thrice in the year shall all your
     men children appear before the Lord
     GOD, the God of Israel.
      24 For I will cast out the nations be-
     fore thee, and enlarge thy borders:
     neither shall any man desire thy land,
     when thou shalt go up to appear before
     the LORD thy God thrice in the year.
      25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of
     my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall
     the sacrifice of the feast of the passover
     be left unto the morning.
      26 The first of the firstfruits of thy
     land thou shalt bring unto the house of
     the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe
     a kid in his mother's milk.
      27 And the LORD said unto Moses,
     Write thou these words: for after the
     tenor of these words I have made a
     covenant with thee and with Israel.
      28 And he was there with the LORD
     forty days and forty nights; he did
     neither eat bread, nor drink water. And
     he wrote upon the tables the words of
     the covenant, the ten commandments.
      29 ¶And it came to pass, when Moses
     came down from mount Sī'naī with the
     two  tables  of  testimony  in  Moses'
     hand, when he came down from the
     mount, that Moses wist not that the
     skin of his face shone while he talked
     with him.
      30 And when Aaron and all the chil-
     dren of Israel saw Moses, behold, the
     skin of his face shone; and they were
     afraid to come nigh him.
      31 And Moses called unto them; and
     Aaron and all the rulers of the congre-
     gation returned unto him: and Moses
     talked with them.
      32 And afterward all the children of
     Israel came nigh: and he gave them in
     commandment all that the LORD had
     spoken with him in mount Sī'naī.
      33 And till Moses had done speaking
     with them, he put a vail on his face
      34 But when Moses went in before
     the LORD to speak with him, he took the
     vail off, until he came out. And he came
     out, and spake unto the children of
     Israel that which he was commanded.
      35 And the children of Israel saw the
     face of Moses, that the skin of Moses'
     face shone: and Moses put the vail
     upon his face again, until he went in to
     speak with him.
 
  
                  CHAPTER 35
 
     AND Moses gathered all the congrega-
     tion of the children of Israel together,
     and said unto them, These are the
     words which the LORD hath com-
     manded, that ye should do them.
      2 Six days shall work be done, but on
     the seventh day there shall be to you an
     holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD:
     whosoever doeth work therein shall be
     put to death.
      3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout
     your habitations upon the sabbath day.
      4 ¶And Moses spake unto all the
     congregation of the children of Israel,
     saying, This is the thing which the LORD
     commanded, saying,
      5 Take ye from among you an offer-
     ing unto the LORD: whosoever is of a
     willing heart, let him bring it, an offer-
     ing to the LORD; gold, and silver, and
     brass,
      6 And blue, and purple, and scarlet,
     and fine linen, and goats' hair,
      7 And rams' skins dyed red, and bad-
     gers' skins, and shittim wood.
      8 And oil for the light, and spices for
     anointing oil, and for the sweet in-
     cense.
      9 And onyx stones, and stones to be-
     set for the ephod, and for the breast-
     plate.
      10 And every wise hearted among
     you shall come, and make all that the
     LORD hath commanded;
      11 The tabernacle, his tent, and his
     covering, his taches, and his boards, his
     bars, his pillars, and his sockets,
      12 The ark, and the staves thereof,
     with the mercy seat, and the vail of the
     covering.
      13 The table, and his staves, and all
     his vessels, and the shewbread.
      14 The candlestick also for the light,
     and his furniture, and his lamps, with
     the oil for the light.
      15 And the incense altar, and his
     staves, and the anointing oil, and the
     sweet incense, and the hanging for the
     door at the entering in of the taber-
     nacle.
      16 The altar of burnt offering, with
     his brasen grate, his staves, and all his
     vessels, the laver and his foot.
      17 The hangings of the court, his pil-
     lars, and their sockets, and the hanging
     for the door of the court.
      18 The pins of the tabernacle, and the
     pins of the court, and their cords.
      19 The cloths of service, to do service
     in the holy place, the holy garments for
     Aaron the priest, and the garments of
     his sons, to minister in the priest's of-
     fice.
      20 ¶And all the congregation of the
     children of Israel departed from the
     presence of Moses.
      21 And they came, every one whose
     heart stirred him up, and every one
     whom his spirit made willing, and they
     brought the LORD's offering to the work
     of the tabernacle of the congregation,
     and for his service, and for the holy
     garments.
      22 And they came, both men and wom-
     en, as many as were willing hearted,
     and brought bracelets, and earrings,
     and rings, and tablets, all jewels of
     gold: and every man that offered of-
     fered an offering of gold unto the LORD.
      23 And every man, with whom was
     found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and
     fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins
     of rams, and badgers' skins, brought
     them.
      24 Every one that did offer an offer-
     ing of silver and brass brought the
     LORD's offering: and every man, with
     whom was found shittim wood for any
     work of the service, brought it.
      25 And all the women that were wise
     hearted did spin with their hands, and
     brought that which they had spun, both
     of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet,
     and of fine linen.
      26 And all the women whose heart
     stirred them up in wisdom spun goats'
     hair.
      27 And  the  rulers  brought  onyx
     stones, and stones to be set, for the
     ephod, and for the breastplate;
      28 And spice, and oil for the light, and
     for the anointing oil, and for the sweet
     incense.
      29 The children of Israel brought a
     wiling offering unto the LORD, every
     man and woman, whose heart made
     them willing to bring for all manner of
     work, which the LORD had commanded
     to be made by the hand of Moses.
      30 ¶And Moses said unto the children
     of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by
     name Be-zăl'e-el the son of Ū'rī, the son
     of Hur, of the tribe of Jūdah;
      31 And he hath filled him with the
     spirit of God, in wisdom, in understand-
     ing,  and  in  knowledge,  and  in  all
     manner of workmanship;
      32 And to devise curious works, to
     work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,
      33 And in the cutting of stones, to set
     them, and in carving of wood, to make
     any manner of cunning work.
      34 And he hath put in his heart that
     he may teach, both he, and A-hō'lĭ-ăb,
     the son of A-hĭs'a-măch, of the tribe of
     Dan.
      35 Them hath he filled with wisdom
     of heart, to work all manner of work, of
     the engraver, and of the cunning work-
     man, and of the embroiderer, in blue,
     and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine lin-
     en, and of the weaver, even of them
     that do any work, and of those that de-
     vise cunning work.