Love and Obedience Rewarded

11 “Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always. ² Know today that I do not speak with your children, who have not known and who have not seen the ^[a]chastening of the Lord your God, His greatness and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm— ³ His signs and His acts which He did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to all his land; ⁴ what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots: ^(A)how He made the waters of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day; ⁵ what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place; ⁶ and ^(B)what He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and all the substance that was ^[b]in their possession, in the midst of all Israel— ⁷ but your eyes have ^(C)seen every great ^[c]act of the Lord which He did.

⁸ “Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may ^(D)be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess, ⁹ and ^(E)that you may prolong your days in the land ^(F)which the Lord ^[d]swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, ^(G)‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ ¹⁰ For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; ^11 (H)but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, ¹² a land for which the Lord your God cares; ^(I)the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.

Peter Meets Cornelius

²⁴ And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵ As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. ²⁶ But Peter lifted him up, saying, ^(A)“Stand up; I myself am also a man.” ²⁷ And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. ²⁸ Then he said to them, “You know how ^(B)unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But ^(C)God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. ²⁹ Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I ask, then, for what reason have you sent for me?”

³⁰ So Cornelius said, ^[a]“Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, ^(D)a man stood before me ^(E)in bright clothing, ³¹ and said, ‘Cornelius, ^(F)your prayer has been heard, and ^(G)your ^[b]alms are remembered in the sight of God. ³² Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. ^[c]When he comes, he will speak to you.’ ³³ So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.”

Preaching to Cornelius’ Household

³⁴ Then Peter opened his mouth and said: ^(H)“In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. ³⁵ But ^(I)in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is ^(J)accepted by Him. ³⁶ The word which God sent to the ^[d]children of Israel, ^(K)preaching peace through Jesus Christ—^(L)He is Lord of all— ³⁷ that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and ^(M)began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: ³⁸ how ^(N)God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who ^(O)went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, ^(P)for God was with Him. ³⁹ And we are ^(Q)witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom ^[e]they ^(R)killed by hanging on a tree. ⁴⁰ Him ^(S)God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, ^41 (T)not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us ^(U)who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. ⁴² And ^(V)He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify ^(W)that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge ^(X)of the living and the dead. ^43 (Y)To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, ^(Z)whoever believes in Him will receive ^(AA)remission^[f] of sins.”

The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, ^(AB)the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. ^45 (AC)And ^[g]those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, ^(AD)because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. ⁴⁶ For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.

Then Peter answered, ⁴⁷ “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit ^(AE)just as we have?” ^48 (AF)And he commanded them to be baptized ^(AG)in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.

¹³ ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly ^[a]obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴ then ^(A)I^[b] will give you the rain for your land in its season, ^(B)the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. ^15 (C)And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may ^(D)eat and be ^[c]filled.’ ¹⁶ Take heed to yourselves, ^(E)lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and ^(F)serve other gods and worship them, ¹⁷ lest ^(G)the Lord’s anger be aroused against you, and He ^(H)shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and ^(I)you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸ “Therefore ^(J)you shall ^[d]lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your ^(K)soul, and ^(L)bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ^19 (M)You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ^20 (N)And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹ that ^(O)your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like ^(P)the days of the heavens above the earth.

²² “For if ^(Q)you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and ^(R)to hold fast to Him— ²³ then the Lord will ^(S)drive out all these nations from before you, and you will ^(T)dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. ^24 (U)Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: ^(V)from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the ^[e]Western Sea, shall be your territory. ²⁵ No man shall be able to ^(W)stand ^[f]against you; the Lord your God will put the ^(X)dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.

^26 (Y)“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: ^27 (Z)the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; ²⁸ and the ^(AA)curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known. ²⁹ Now it shall be, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the ^(AB)blessing on Mount Gerizim and the ^(AC)curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, ^(AD)beside the terebinth trees of Moreh? ³¹ For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it. ³² And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.

Peter Defends God’s Grace

11 Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. ² And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, ^(A)those of the circumcision contended with him, ³ saying, ^(B)“You went in to uncircumcised men ^(C)and ate with them!”

⁴ But Peter explained it to them ^(D)in order from the beginning, saying: ^5 (E)“I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me. ⁶ When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. ⁷ And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’ ⁹ But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ ¹⁰ Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. ¹¹ At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² Then ^(F)the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover ^(G)these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. ^13 (H)And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, ¹⁴ who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.’ ¹⁵ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, ^(I)as upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ^(J)‘John indeed baptized with water, but ^(K)you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ^17 (L)If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, ^(M)who was I that I could withstand God?”

¹⁸ When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ^(N)“Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”