Psalm 99

⁶ Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.^(A)

The Golden Calf

⁷ Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger^(B) of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious^(C) against the Lord.^{(D) 8} At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath^(E) so that he was angry enough to destroy you.^{(F) 9} When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant^(G) that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days^(H) and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.^{(I) 10} The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God.^(J) On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.^(K)

¹¹ At the end of the forty days and forty nights,^(L) the Lord gave me the two stone tablets,^(M) the tablets of the covenant. ¹² Then the Lord told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt.^(N) They have turned away quickly^(O) from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people^(P), and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! ¹⁴ Let me alone,^(Q) so that I may destroy them and blot out^(R) their name from under heaven.^(S) And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

Cornelius Calls for Peter

10 At Caesarea^(A) there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. ² He and all his family were devout and God-fearing;^(B) he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. ³ One day at about three in the afternoon^(C) he had a vision.^(D) He distinctly saw an angel^(E) of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering^(F) before God.^{(G) 5} Now send men to Joppa^(H) to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is staying with Simon the tanner,^(I) whose house is by the sea.”

⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. ⁸ He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.^(J)