Justice for All

23 “You ^(A)shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an ^(B)unrighteous witness. ^2 (C)You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; ^(D)nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. ³ You shall not show partiality to a ^(E)poor man in his dispute.

^4 (F)“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. ^5 (G)If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.

^6 (H)“You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. ^7 (I)Keep yourself far from a false matter; ^(J)do not kill the innocent and righteous. For ^(K)I will not justify the wicked. ⁸ And ^(L)you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.

⁹ “Also ^(M)you shall not oppress a ^[a]stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Law of Sabbaths

^10 (N)“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, ¹¹ but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your ^[b]olive grove. ^12 (O)Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.

¹³ “And in all that I have said to you, ^(P)be circumspect and ^(Q)make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

Three Annual Feasts^(R)

^14 (S)“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: ^15 (T)You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; ^(U)none shall appear before Me empty); ^16 (V)and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and ^(W)the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.

^17 (X)“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord ^[c]God.

^18 (Y)“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened ^(Z)bread; nor shall the fat of My ^[d]sacrifice remain until morning. ^19 (AA)The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. ^(AB)You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

The Angel and the Promises

^20 (AC)“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. ²¹ Beware of Him and obey His voice; ^(AD)do not provoke Him, for He will ^(AE)not pardon your transgressions; for ^(AF)My name is in Him. ²² But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then ^(AG)I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. ^23 (AH)For My Angel will go before you and ^(AI)bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will ^[e]cut them off. ²⁴ You shall not ^(AJ)bow down to their gods, nor serve them, ^(AK)nor do according to their works; ^(AL)but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.

²⁵ “So you shall ^(AM)serve the Lord your God, and ^(AN)He will bless your bread and your water. And ^(AO)I will take sickness away from the midst of you. ^26 (AP)No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will ^(AQ)fulfill the number of your days.

²⁷ “I will send ^(AR)My fear before you, I will ^(AS)cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. ²⁸ And ^(AT)I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. ^29 (AU)I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. ³¹ And ^(AV)I will set your ^[f]bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the ^[g]River. For I will ^(AW)deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. ^32 (AX)You shall make no ^[h]covenant with them, nor with their gods. ³³ They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, ^(AY)it will surely be a snare to you.”

Israel Affirms the Covenant

24 Now He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, ^(AZ)Nadab and Abihu, ^(BA)and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. ² And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”

³ So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ^[i]judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ^(BB)“All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” ⁴ And Moses ^(BC)wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve ^(BD)pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered ^(BE)burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. ⁶ And Moses ^(BF)took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. ⁷ Then he ^(BG)took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” ⁸ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is ^(BH)the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

On the Mountain with God

⁹ Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, ¹⁰ and they ^(BI)saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of ^(BJ)sapphire stone, and it was like the ^(BK)very^[j] heavens in its clarity. ¹¹ But on the nobles of the children of Israel He ^(BL)did not ^[k]lay His hand. So ^(BM)they saw God, and they ^(BN)ate and drank.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(BO)“Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you ^(BP)tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”

¹³ So Moses arose with ^(BQ)his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. ¹⁴ And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and ^(BR)Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” ¹⁵ Then Moses went up into the mountain, and ^(BS)a cloud covered the mountain.

¹⁶ Now ^(BT)the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷ The sight of the glory of the Lord was like ^(BU)a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. ¹⁸ So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And ^(BV)Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Folly of the Godless, and God’s Final Triumph^(A)

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

Lying to the Holy Spirit

5 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. ² And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. ^3 (A)But Peter said, “Ananias, why has ^(B)Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? ⁴ While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

⁵ Then Ananias, hearing these words, ^(C)fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. ⁶ And the young men arose and ^(D)wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.

⁷ Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?”

She said, “Yes, for so much.”

⁹ Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together ^(E)to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” ^10 (F)Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. ^11 (G)So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

Continuing Power in the Church

¹² And ^(H)through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. ^(I)And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. ¹³ Yet ^(J)none of the rest dared join them, ^(K)but the people esteemed them highly. ¹⁴ And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, ¹⁵ so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, ^(L)that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. ¹⁶ Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing ^(M)sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

Imprisoned Apostles Freed

^17 (N)Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with ^[a]indignation, ^18 (O)and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. ¹⁹ But at night ^(P)an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people ^(Q)all the words of this life.”

²¹ And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. ^(R)But the high priest and those with him came and called the ^[b]council together, with all the ^[c]elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

Apostles on Trial Again

²² But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, ²³ saying, “Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing ^[d]outside before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!” ²⁴ Now when ^[e]the high priest, ^(S)the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. ²⁵ So one came and told them, ^[f]saying, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!”

²⁶ Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, ^(T)for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. ²⁷ And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, ²⁸ saying, ^(U)“Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, ^(V)and intend to bring this Man’s ^(W)blood on us!”

²⁹ But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ^(X)“We ought to obey God rather than men. ^30 (Y)The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by ^(Z)hanging on a tree. ^31 (AA)Him God has exalted to His right hand to be ^(AB)Prince and ^(AC)Savior, ^(AD)to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. ³² And ^(AE)we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit ^(AF)whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Gamaliel’s Advice

³³ When they heard this, they were ^(AG)furious^[g] and plotted to kill them. ³⁴ Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named ^(AH)Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. ³⁵ And he said to them: “Men of Israel, ^[h]take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. ³⁶ For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, ^[i]joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. ³⁷ After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. ³⁸ And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; ^39 (AI)but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found ^(AJ)to fight against God.”

⁴⁰ And they agreed with him, and when they had ^(AK)called for the apostles ^(AL)and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. ⁴¹ So they departed from the presence of the council, ^(AM)rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for ^[j]His name. ⁴² And daily ^(AN)in the temple, and in every house, ^(AO)they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.