A Lame Man Healed

3 Now Peter and John went up together ^(A)to the temple at the hour of prayer, ^(B)the ninth hour. ² And ^(C)a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, ^(D)to ^[a]ask alms from those who entered the temple; ³ who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. ⁴ And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” ⁵ So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: ^(E)In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” ⁷ And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. ⁸ So he, ^(F)leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. ^9 (G)And all the people saw him walking and praising God. ¹⁰ Then they knew that it was he who ^(H)sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Preaching in Solomon’s Portico

¹¹ Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch ^(I)which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. ¹² So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ^13 (J)The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, ^(K)glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you ^(L)delivered up and ^(M)denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. ¹⁴ But you denied ^(N)the Holy One ^(O)and the Just, and ^(P)asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and killed the ^[b]Prince of life, ^(Q)whom God raised from the dead, ^(R)of which we are witnesses. ^16 (S)And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

¹⁷ “Yet now, brethren, I know that ^(T)you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸ But ^(U)those things which God foretold ^(V)by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. ^19 (W)Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ²⁰ and that He may send ^[c]Jesus Christ, who was ^[d]preached to you before, ^21 (X)whom heaven must receive until the times of ^(Y)restoration of all things, ^(Z)which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since ^[e]the world began. ²² For Moses truly said to the fathers, ^(AA)‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. ²³ And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ ²⁴ Yes, and ^(AB)all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also ^[f]foretold these days. ^25 (AC)You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ^(AD)‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ ²⁶ To you ^(AE)first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, ^(AF)in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

Various Instructions

17 “You ^(A)shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any ^[a]blemish or defect, for that is an ^[b]abomination to the Lord your God.

^2 (B)“If there is found among you, within any of your ^[c]gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, ^(C)in transgressing His covenant, ³ who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either ^(D)the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, ^(E)which I have not commanded, ^4 (F)and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an ^[d]abomination has been committed in Israel, ⁵ then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and ^(G)shall stone ^(H)to death that man or woman with stones. ⁶ Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three ^(I)witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. ⁷ The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among ^(J)you.

^8 (K)“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the ^(L)place which the Lord your God chooses. ⁹ And ^(M)you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and ^(N)to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; ^(O)they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. ¹⁰ You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. ¹¹ According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. ¹² Now ^(P)the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. ^13 (Q)And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.

Principles Governing Kings

¹⁴ “When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ^(R)‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵ you shall surely set a king over you ^(S)whom the Lord your God chooses; one ^(T)from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. ¹⁶ But he shall not multiply ^(U)horses for himself, nor cause the people ^(V)to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for ^(W)the Lord has said to you, ^(X)‘You shall not return that way again.’ ¹⁷ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and ^(Y)gold for himself.

¹⁸ “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one ^(Z)before the priests, the Levites. ¹⁹ And ^(AA)it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, ²⁰ that his heart may not ^[e]be lifted above his brethren, that he ^(AB)may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may ^[f]prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

The Portion of the Priests and Levites

18 “The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have ^[g]no part nor ^(AC)inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His portion. ² Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He said to them.

³ “And this shall be the priest’s ^(AD)due^[h] from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. ^4 (AE)The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. ⁵ For ^(AF)the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes ^(AG)to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.

⁶ “So if a Levite comes from any of your ^[i]gates, from where he ^(AH)dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind ^(AI)to the place which the Lord chooses, ⁷ then he may serve in the name of the Lord his God ^(AJ)as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the Lord. ⁸ They shall have equal ^(AK)portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.

Avoid Wicked Customs

⁹ “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(AL)you shall not learn to follow the ^[j]abominations of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter ^(AM)pass^[k] through the fire, ^(AN)or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ^11 (AO)or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or ^(AP)one who calls up the dead. ¹² For all who do these things are ^[l]an abomination to the Lord, and ^(AQ)because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. ¹³ You shall be ^[m]blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴ For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not ^[n]appointed such for you.

A New Prophet Like Moses

^15 (AR)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, ¹⁶ according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb ^(AS)in the day of the assembly, saying, ^(AT)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

¹⁷ “And the Lord said to me: ^(AU)‘What they have spoken is good. ^18 (AV)I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and ^(AW)will put My words in His mouth, ^(AX)and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ^19 (AY)And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. ²⁰ But ^(AZ)the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or ^(BA)who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— ^22 (BB)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, ^(BC)if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it ^(BD)presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Job Answers His Critics

12 Then Job answered and said: