Various Laws

23 “^(A)You shall not give a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked person to be a ^(B)malicious witness. ² You shall not follow ^[a]the crowd in doing evil, nor shall you ^[b]testify in a dispute so as to join together with ^[c]a crowd in order to ^(C)pervert justice; ^3 (D)nor shall you ^[d]show favor to a poor person in his dispute.

⁴ “^(E)If you encounter your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you must return it to him. ^5 (F)If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall not leave it helpless for ^[e]its owner; you must arrange the load with him.

⁶ “^(G)You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. ^7 (H)Keep far from a false charge, and ^(I)do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for ^(J)I will not acquit the guilty.

⁸ “^(K)You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and ^[f]subverts the cause of the just.

⁹ “^(L)You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the ^[g]feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Sabbath and the Land

¹⁰ “Now ^(M)you shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, ¹¹ but in the seventh year you shall let it ^[h]rest and lie uncultivated, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the animal of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

¹² “^(N)For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as the stranger residing with you, may refresh themselves. ¹³ Now ^(O)concerning everything which I have said to you, be careful; and ^(P)do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard ^[i]from your mouth.

Three National Feasts

¹⁴ “^(Q)Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. ¹⁵ You shall keep ^(R)the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the ^(S)month of Abib, for in ^[j]that month you came out of Egypt. And ^[k](T)no one is to appear before Me empty-handed. ¹⁶ Also you shall keep ^(U)the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year ^(V)when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. ^17 (W)Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord ^[l]God.

¹⁸ “^(X)You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; ^(Y)nor is the fat of My ^[m]feast to remain overnight until morning.

¹⁹ “You shall bring ^(Z)the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God.

“^(AA)You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.

Conquest of the Land

²⁰ “Behold, I am going to send ^(AB)an angel before you to guard you along the way and ^(AC)to bring you into the place which I have prepared. ²¹ Be attentive to him and obey his voice; ^(AD)do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your rebellion, since ^(AE)My name is in him. ²² But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then ^(AF)I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. ^23 (AG)For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them. ^24 (AH)You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds; ^(AI)but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their ^(AJ)memorial stones in pieces. ^25 (AK)And you shall serve the Lord your God, ^[n]and He will bless your bread and your water; and ^(AL)I will remove sickness from your midst. ²⁶ There will be no one miscarrying or ^(AM)unable to have children in your land; ^(AN)I will fulfill the number of your days. ²⁷ I will ^(AO)send My terror ahead of you, and ^(AP)throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will ^(AQ)make all your enemies turn their backs to you. ²⁸ And I will send ^(AR)hornets ahead of you so that they will ^(AS)drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from you. ^29 (AT)I will not drive them out from you in a single year, so that the land will not become desolate and the animals of the field become too numerous for you. ³⁰ I will drive them out from you ^(AU)little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land. ^31 (AV)I will set your boundary from the ^[o]Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River; ^(AW)for I will hand over the inhabitants of the land to you, and you will ^(AX)drive them out from you. ^32 (AY)You shall ^[p]make no covenant with them ^(AZ)or with their gods. ^33 (BA)They shall not live in your land, otherwise they will make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, ^(BB)it is certain to be a snare to you.”

People Affirm Their Covenant with God

24 Then He said to Moses, “^(BC)Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, ^(BD)Nadab and Abihu, and ^(BE)seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance. ² Moses alone, however, shall approach the Lord, but they shall not approach, nor shall the people come up with him.”

³ Then Moses came and reported to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ^[q]ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “^(BF)All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!” ⁴ And ^(BG)Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he got up early in the morning, and built an ^(BH)altar ^[r]at the foot of the mountain with twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, ^(BI)and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. ^6 (BJ)Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. ⁷ Then he took ^(BK)the Book of the Covenant and read it ^[s]as the people listened; and they said, “^(BL)All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” ⁸ So ^(BM)Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold ^(BN)the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has ^[t]made with you ^[u]in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Then Moses went up ^[v]with Aaron, ^(BO)Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, ¹⁰ and ^(BP)they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet ^[w](BQ)there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, ^[x]as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ Yet He did not reach out with His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and ^(BR)they saw God, and they ate and drank.

¹² Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and ^[y]stay there, and ^(BS)I will give you the stone tablets ^[z]with the Law and the ^[aa]commandments which I have written for their instruction.” ¹³ So Moses got up ^[ab]along with ^(BT)Joshua his ^[ac]servant, and Moses went up to ^(BU)the mountain of God. ¹⁴ But to the elders he said, “^(BV)Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, ^(BW)Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever ^[ad]has a legal matter, have him approach them.” ¹⁵ Then Moses went up to the mountain, and ^(BX)the cloud covered the mountain. ^16 (BY)The glory of the Lord ^[ae]settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He ^(BZ)called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. ^17 (CA)And to the eyes of the sons of Israel, the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a ^(CB)consuming fire on the mountain top. ¹⁸ Then Moses entered the midst of the cloud ^[af]as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain for ^(CC)forty days and forty nights.

Foolishness and Wickedness of People.

For the music director. A Psalm of David.

Fate of Ananias and Sapphira

5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, ² and ^(A)kept back some of the ^[a]proceeds for himself, with his wife’s ^[b]full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he ^(B)laid it at the apostles’ feet. ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has ^(C)Satan filled your heart to lie ^(D)to the Holy Spirit and to ^(E)keep back some of the ^[c]proceeds of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not ^[d]under your control? Why is it that you have ^[e]conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but ^(F)to God.” ⁵ And as he heard these words, Ananias ^(G)collapsed and ^[f]died; and ^(H)great fear came over all who heard about it. ⁶ The young men got up and ^(I)covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

⁷ Now an interval of about three hours elapsed, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land ^(J)for ^[g]this price?” And she said, “Yes, for ^[h]that price.” ⁹ Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to ^(K)put ^(L)the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” ¹⁰ And immediately she ^(M)collapsed at his feet and ^[i]died; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ And ^(N)great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard about these things.

^12 [j]At the hands of the apostles many ^[k](O)signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all ^[l]together in ^(P)Solomon’s ^[m]portico. ¹³ But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, ^(Q)the people held them in high esteem. ¹⁴ And increasingly ^(R)believers in the Lord, large numbers of men and women, were being ^(S)added to their number, ¹⁵ to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by ^(T)at least his shadow might fall on any of them. ¹⁶ The ^[n]people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together as well, bringing people who were sick ^[o]or tormented with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.

Imprisonment and Release

¹⁷ But the high priest stood up, along with all his associates (that is ^(U)the sect of ^(V)the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸ They laid hands on the apostles and ^(W)put them in a public prison. ¹⁹ But during the night ^(X)an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and leading them out, he said, ²⁰ “Go, stand and ^[p]speak to the people in the temple area ^[q](Y)the whole message of this Life.” ²¹ Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple area ^(Z)about daybreak and began to teach.

Now when ^(AA)the high priest and his associates came, they called ^(AB)the ^[r]Council together, that is, all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison for them to be brought. ²² But ^(AC)the officers who came did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported, ²³ saying, “We found the prison locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” ²⁴ Now when ^(AD)the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what ^[s]would come of this. ²⁵ But someone came and reported to them, “The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple area and teaching the people!” ²⁶ Then ^(AE)the captain went along with ^(AF)the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for ^(AG)they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned).

²⁷ When they had brought them, they had them stand ^[t]before ^(AH)the Council. The high priest interrogated them, ²⁸ saying, “We gave you ^(AI)strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and ^[u]yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and ^(AJ)intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us.” ²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “^(AK)We must obey God rather than men. ^30 (AL)The God of our fathers ^(AM)raised up Jesus, whom you ^(AN)put to death by hanging Him on ^[v](AO)a cross. ^31 (AP)He is the one whom God exalted ^[w]to His right hand as a ^[x](AQ)Prince and a ^(AR)Savior, to grant ^(AS)repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. ³² And we are ^(AT)witnesses ^[y]of these things; and ^(AU)so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Gamaliel’s Counsel

³³ But when they heard this, they became ^(AV)infuriated and nearly decided to execute them. ³⁴ But a Pharisee named ^(AW)Gamaliel, a ^(AX)teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in ^(AY)the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. ³⁵ And he said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful as to what you are about to do with these men. ³⁶ For, some time ago Theudas appeared, ^(AZ)claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined him. ^[z]But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷ After this man, Judas of Galilee appeared in the days of ^(BA)the census and drew away some people after him; he also perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. ³⁸ And so in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, for if the source of this plan or ^[aa]movement ^(BB)is men, it will be overthrown; ³⁹ but if the source is God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found ^(BC)fighting against God.”

⁴⁰ They followed his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they ^(BD)flogged them and ordered them not to ^[ab]speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. ⁴¹ So they went on their way from the presence of the ^[ac](BE)Council, ^(BF)rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame ^(BG)for His name. ^42 (BH)And every day, in the temple and ^[ad]from house to house, they did not stop teaching and ^(BI)preaching the good news of Jesus as the ^[ae]Christ.