Acts 13:13-52

New King James Version

At Antioch in Pisidia

¹³Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and ^(A)John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and ^(B)went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. ¹⁵And ^(C)after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Men and brethren, if you have ^(D)any word of ^[a]exhortation for the people, say on.”

¹⁶Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and ^(E)you who fear God, listen: ¹⁷The God of this people ^[b]Israel ^(F)chose our fathers, and exalted the people ^(G)when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with ^[c]an uplifted arm He ^(H)brought them out of it. ¹⁸Now ^(I)for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness. ¹⁹And when He had destroyed ^(J)seven nations in the land of Canaan, ^(K)He distributed their land to them by allotment.

²⁰“After that ^(L)He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, ^(M)until Samuel the prophet. ²¹^(N)And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them ^(O)Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²²And ^(P)when He had removed him, ^(Q)He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ^(R)‘I have found David the son of Jesse, ^(S)a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ ²³^(T)From this man’s seed, according ^(U)to the promise, God raised up for Israel ^(V)a^[d] Savior—Jesus— ²⁴^(W)after John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵And as John was finishing his course, he said, ^(X)‘Who do you think I am? I am not He. But behold, ^(Y)there comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.’

²⁶“Men and brethren, sons of the ^[e]family of Abraham, and ^(Z)those among you who fear God, ^(AA)to you the ^[f]word of this salvation has been sent. ²⁷For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, ^(AB)because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him. ²⁸^(AC)And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. ²⁹^(AD)Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, ^(AE)they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰^(AF)But God raised Him from the dead. ³¹^(AG)He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people. ³²And we declare to you glad tidings—^(AH)that promise which was made to the fathers. ³³God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm:

^(AI)‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.’

³⁴And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to ^[g]corruption, He has spoken thus:

^(AJ)‘I will give you the sure ^[h]mercies of David.’

³⁵Therefore He also says in another Psalm:

^(AK)‘You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.’

³⁶“For David, after he had served ^[i]his own generation by the will of God, ^(AL)fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and ^[j]saw corruption; ³⁷but He whom God raised up ^[k]saw no corruption. ³⁸Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that ^(AM)through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; ³⁹and ^(AN)by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you:

⁴¹‘Behold,^(AO) you despisers,
Marvel and perish!
For I work a work in your days,
A work which you will by no means believe,
Though one were to declare it to you.’ ”

Blessing and Conflict at Antioch

⁴²^[l]So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. ⁴³Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, ^(AP)persuaded them to continue in ^(AQ)the grace of God.

⁴⁴On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. ⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they ^(AR)opposed the things spoken by Paul. ⁴⁶Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ^(AS)“It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but ^(AT)since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, ^(AU)we turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷For so the Lord has commanded us:

^(AV)‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles,
That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

⁴⁸Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. ^(AW)And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. ⁵⁰But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, ^(AX)raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. ⁵¹^(AY)But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium. ⁵²And the disciples ^(AZ)were filled with joy and ^(BA)with the Holy Spirit.

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Footnotes

Acts 13:15 encouragement
Acts 13:17 M omits Israel
Acts 13:17 Mighty power
Acts 13:23 M salvation, after
Acts 13:26 stock
Acts 13:26 message
Acts 13:34 the state of decay
Acts 13:34 blessings
Acts 13:36 in his
Acts 13:36 underwent decay
Acts 13:37 underwent no decay
Acts 13:42 Or And when they went out of the synagogue of the Jews; NU And when they went out, they begged

Nehemiah 9-10

New King James Version

The People Confess Their Sins

9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^(A)this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, ^(B)and with ^[a]dust on their heads. ²Then ^(C)those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and ^(D)confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ³And they stood up in their place and ^(E)read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.

⁴Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the ^[b]stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. ⁵And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said:

“Stand up and bless the Lord your God
Forever and ever!

“Blessed be ^(F)Your glorious name,
Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
⁶^(G)You alone are the Lord;
^(H)You have made heaven,
^(I)The heaven of heavens, with ^(J)all their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You ^(K)preserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You.

⁷“You are the Lord God,
Who chose ^(L)Abram,
And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans,
And gave him the name ^(M)Abraham;
⁸You found his heart ^(N)faithful before You,
And made a ^(O)covenant with him
To give the land of the Canaanites,
The Hittites, the Amorites,
The Perizzites, the Jebusites,
And the Girgashites—
To give it to his descendants.
You ^(P)have performed Your words,
For You are righteous.

⁹“You^(Q) saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,
And ^(R)heard their cry by the Red Sea.
¹⁰You ^(S)showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
Against all his servants,
And against all the people of his land.
For You knew that they ^(T)acted ^[c]proudly against them.
So You ^(U)made a name for Yourself, as it is this day.
¹¹^(V)And You divided the sea before them,
So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land;
And their persecutors You threw into the deep,
^(W)As a stone into the mighty waters.
¹²Moreover You ^(X)led them by day with a cloudy pillar,
And by night with a pillar of fire,
To give them light on the road
Which they should travel.

¹³“You^(Y) came down also on Mount Sinai,
And spoke with them from heaven,
And gave them ^(Z)just ordinances and true laws,
Good statutes and commandments.
¹⁴You made known to them Your ^(AA)holy Sabbath,
And commanded them precepts, statutes and laws,
By the hand of Moses Your servant.
¹⁵You ^(AB)gave them bread from heaven for their hunger,
And ^(AC)brought them water out of the rock for their thirst,
And told them to ^(AD)go in to possess the land
Which You had ^[d]sworn to give them.

¹⁶“But^(AE) they and our fathers acted ^[e]proudly,
^(AF)Hardened^[f] their necks,
And did not heed Your commandments.
¹⁷They refused to obey,
And ^(AG)they were not mindful of Your wonders
That You did among them.
But they hardened their necks,
And ^[g]in their rebellion
They appointed ^(AH)a leader
To return to their bondage.
But You are God,
Ready to pardon,
^(AI)Gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger,
Abundant in kindness,
And did not forsake them.

¹⁸“Even ^(AJ)when they made a molded calf for themselves,
And said, ‘This is your god
That brought you up out of Egypt,’
And worked great provocations,
¹⁹Yet in Your ^(AK)manifold mercies
You did not forsake them in the wilderness.
The ^(AL)pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day,
To lead them on the road;
Nor the pillar of fire by night,
To show them light,
And the way they should go.
²⁰You also gave Your ^(AM)good Spirit to instruct them,
And did not withhold Your ^(AN)manna from their mouth,
And gave them ^(AO)water for their thirst.
²¹^(AP)Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness;
They lacked nothing;
Their ^(AQ)clothes did not wear out
And their feet did not swell.

²²“Moreover You gave them kingdoms and nations,
And divided them into ^[h]districts.
So they took possession of the land of ^(AR)Sihon,
^[i]The land of the king of Heshbon,
And the land of Og king of Bashan.
²³You also multiplied ^(AS)their children as the stars of heaven,
And brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers
To go in and possess.
²⁴So ^(AT)the ^[j]people went in
And possessed the land;
^(AU)You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land,
The Canaanites,
And gave them into their hands,
With their kings
And the people of the land,
That they might do with them as they wished.
²⁵And they took strong cities and a ^(AV)rich land,
And possessed ^(AW)houses full of all goods,
Cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves,
And ^[k]fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate and were filled and ^(AX)grew fat,
And delighted themselves in Your great ^(AY)goodness.

²⁶“Nevertheless they ^(AZ)were disobedient
And rebelled against You,
^(BA)Cast Your law behind their backs
And killed Your ^(BB)prophets, who ^[l]testified against them
To turn them to Yourself;
And they worked great provocations.
²⁷^(BC)Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies,
Who oppressed them;
And in the time of their trouble,
When they cried to You,
You ^(BD)heard from heaven;
And according to Your abundant mercies
^(BE)You gave them deliverers who saved them
From the hand of their enemies.

²⁸“But after they had rest,
^(BF)They again did evil before You.
Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies,
So that they had dominion over them;
Yet when they returned and cried out to You,
You heard from heaven;
And ^(BG)many times You delivered them according to Your mercies,
²⁹And ^[m]testified against them,
That You might bring them back to Your law.
Yet they acted ^[n]proudly,
And did not heed Your commandments,
But sinned against Your judgments,
^(BH)‘Which if a man does, he shall live by them.’
And they shrugged their shoulders,
^[o]Stiffened their necks,
And would not hear.
³⁰Yet for many years You had patience with them,
And ^[p]testified ^(BI)against them by Your Spirit ^(BJ)in Your prophets.
Yet they would not listen;
^(BK)Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
³¹Nevertheless in Your great mercy
^(BL)You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them;
For You are God, gracious and merciful.

³²“Now therefore, our God,
The great, the ^(BM)mighty, and awesome God,
Who keeps covenant and mercy:
Do not let all the ^[q]trouble seem small before You
That has come upon us,
Our kings and our princes,
Our priests and our prophets,
Our fathers and on all Your people,
^(BN)From the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.
³³However ^(BO)You are just in all that has befallen us;
For You have dealt faithfully,
But ^(BP)we have done wickedly.
³⁴Neither our kings nor our princes,
Our priests nor our fathers,
Have kept Your law,
Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,
With which You testified against them.
³⁵For they have ^(BQ)not served You in their kingdom,
Or in the many good things that You gave them,
Or in the large and rich land which You set before them;
Nor did they turn from their wicked works.

³⁶“Here ^(BR)we are, servants today!
And the land that You gave to our fathers,
To eat its fruit and its bounty,
Here we are, servants in it!
³⁷And ^(BS)it yields much increase to the kings
You have set over us,
Because of our sins;
Also they have ^(BT)dominion over our bodies and our cattle
At their pleasure;
And we are in great distress.

³⁸“And because of all this,
We ^(BU)make a sure covenant and write it;
Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests ^(BV)seal it.”

The People Who Sealed the Covenant

10 Now those who placed their seal on the document were:

Nehemiah the ^[r]governor, ^(BW)the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, ²^(BX)Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, ³Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, ⁴Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ⁵Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, ⁶Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, ⁷Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, ⁸Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests.

⁹The Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, and Kadmiel.

¹⁰Their brethren: Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, ¹¹Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah, ¹²Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, ¹³Hodijah, Bani, and Beninu.

¹⁴The leaders of the people: ^(BY)Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, ¹⁵Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁶Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, ¹⁷Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, ¹⁸Hodijah, Hashum, Bezai, ¹⁹Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, ²⁰Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, ²¹Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, ²²Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, ²³Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, ²⁴Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, ²⁵Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, ²⁶Ahijah, Hanan, Anan, ²⁷Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.

The Covenant That Was Sealed

²⁸^(BZ)Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, ^(CA)and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding— ²⁹these joined with their brethren, their nobles, ^(CB)and entered into a curse and an oath ^(CC)to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes: ³⁰We would not give ^(CD)our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; ³¹^(CE)if the peoples of the land brought ^[s]wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the ^(CF)seventh year’s produce and the ^(CG)exacting^[t] of every debt.

³²Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly ^(CH)one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: ³³for ^(CI)the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the ^(CJ)regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. ³⁴We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, ^(CK)for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God ^(CL)as it is written in the Law.

³⁵And we made ordinances ^(CM)to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord; ³⁶to bring the ^(CN)firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; ³⁷^(CO)to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the ^[u]house of our God; and to bring ^(CP)the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities. ³⁸And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites ^(CQ)when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to ^(CR)the rooms of the storehouse.

³⁹For the children of Israel and the children of Levi ^(CS)shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil, to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers ^(CT)and the singers are; and we will not ^(CU)neglect the house of our God.