Rewards of Obedience

11 “You shall therefore ^(A)love the Lord your God, and always ^(B)keep His directive, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments. ² Know this day ^(C)that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the ^[a]discipline of the Lord your God—His greatness, His mighty hand, His outstretched arm, ³ and ^(D)His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; ⁴ and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, ^(E)when He made the water of the ^[b]Red Sea ^[c]engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the Lord ^[d]completely eliminated them; ⁵ and what He did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place; ⁶ and ^(F)what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and ^(G)every living thing that ^[e]followed them, among all Israel— ⁷ but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did.

⁸ “You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(H)so that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land into which you are about to cross to possess it; ⁹ and ^(I)so that you may prolong your days on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their ^[f]descendants, ^(J)a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it ^[g]by your foot like a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But ^(K)the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, ¹² a land for which the Lord your God cares; ^(L)the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it, from the ^[h]beginning even to the end of the year.

¹³ “And it shall come about, ^(M)if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, ^(N)to love the Lord your God and to serve Him ^(O)with all your heart and all your soul, ¹⁴ that ^[i](P)He will provide rain for your land in its season, the ^[j](Q)early and ^[k]late rain, so that you may gather your grain, your new wine, and your oil. ^15 [l](R)He will also provide grass in your field for your cattle, and ^(S)you will eat and be satisfied. ^16 [m](T)Beware that your hearts are not easily deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods, and worship them. ¹⁷ Otherwise, ^(U)the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will ^(V)shut up the sky ^(W)so that there will be no rain, and the ground will not yield its produce; then ^(X)you will quickly perish from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸ “^(Y)You shall therefore take these words of mine to ^[n]heart and to soul; and you shall tie them as a sign on your ^[o]hand, and they shall be as ^[p]frontlets ^[q]on your forehead. ^19 (Z)You shall also teach them to your sons, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. ^20 (AA)And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹ so that ^(AB)your days and the days of your sons may be increased on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as ^[r](AC)long as the heavens are above the earth. ²² For if you are ^(AD)careful to keep all of this commandment which I am commanding you to do, ^(AE)to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and ^(AF)cling to Him, ²³ then the Lord will ^[s](AG)dispossess all these nations from you, and you will ^[t](AH)dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. ^24 (AI)Every place on which the sole of your foot steps shall be yours; ^(AJ)your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as ^[u]the western sea. ^25 (AK)No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will ^[v]instill the dread of you and the fear of you in all the land on which you set foot, just as He has spoken to you.

²⁶ “^(AL)See, I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse: ²⁷ the ^(AM)blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; ²⁸ and the ^(AN)curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, ^[w]by following other gods which you have not known.

²⁹ “And it shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, ^(AO)that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are they not across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite ^(AP)Gilgal, beside ^(AQ)the ^[x]oaks of Moreh? ³¹ For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and ^(AR)you shall possess it and live in it, ³² and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am placing before you today.

A Petition to Be Saved from Death.

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the music director; according to Mahalath Leannoth. A ^[a]Maskil of Heman ^[b]the Ezrahite.

The Day of Pentecost

2 When ^(A)the day of Pentecost ^[a]had come, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled ^(B)the whole house where they were sitting. ³ And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, ^[b]distributing themselves, and a tongue ^[c]rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all ^(C)filled with the Holy Spirit and began to ^(D)speak with different ^[d]tongues, as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out.

⁵ Now there were Jews residing in Jerusalem, ^(E)devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And when ^(F)this sound occurred, the crowd came together and they were bewildered, because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own ^[e]language. ^7 (G)They were amazed and astonished, saying, “^[f]Why, are not all these who are speaking ^(H)Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we each hear them in our own ^[g]language ^[h]to which we were born? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and ^(I)Cappadocia, ^(J)Pontus and ^[i](K)Asia, ^10 (L)Phrygia and ^(M)Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya around ^(N)Cyrene, and ^[j](O)visitors from Rome, both Jews and ^[k](P)proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own ^[l]tongues of the mighty deeds of God.” ¹² And ^(Q)they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others were jeering and saying, “^(R)They are full of ^[m]sweet wine!”

Peter’s Sermon

¹⁴ But Peter, taking his stand with ^(S)the other eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, ^[n]know this, and pay attention to my words. ¹⁵ For these people are not drunk, as you assume, ^(T)since it is only the ^[o]third hour of the day; ¹⁶ but this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

²² “Men of Israel, listen to these words: ^(W)Jesus the Nazarene, ^(X)a Man ^[u]attested to you by God with ^[v]miracles and ^(Y)wonders and ^[w]signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³ this Man, delivered over by the ^(Z)predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, ^(AA)you nailed to a cross by the hands of ^[x]godless men and put Him to death. ^24 [y]But ^(AB)God raised Him from the dead, putting an end to the ^[z]agony of death, since it ^(AC)was impossible for Him to be held ^[aa]in its power. ²⁵ For David says of Him,

²⁹ “^[ae]Brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the ^(AG)patriarch David that he both ^(AH)died and ^(AI)was buried, and ^(AJ)his tomb is ^[af]with us to this day. ³⁰ So because he was ^(AK)a prophet and knew that ^(AL)God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one ^[ag]of his descendants on his throne, ³¹ he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the ^[ah]Christ, that ^(AM)He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh ^[ai]suffer decay. ³² It is this Jesus whom ^(AN)God raised up, ^[aj]a fact to which we are all ^(AO)witnesses. ³³ Therefore, ^[ak]since He has been exalted ^[al](AP)at the right hand of God, and ^(AQ)has received ^(AR)the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has ^(AS)poured out this which you both see and hear. ³⁴ For it was not David who ascended into ^[am]heaven, but he himself says:

³⁶ Therefore let all the ^(AU)house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both ^(AV)Lord and ^[an]Christ—this Jesus ^(AW)whom you crucified.”

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were ^[ao]pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “^[ap]Brothers, ^(AX)what are we to do?” ³⁸ Peter said to them, “^(AY)Repent, and each of you be ^(AZ)baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For ^(BA)the promise is for you and your children and for all who are ^(BB)far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰ And with many other words he solemnly ^(BC)testified and kept on urging them, saying, “^[aq]Be saved from this ^(BD)perverse generation!” ⁴¹ So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand ^[ar](BE)souls. ⁴² They were ^(BF)continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to ^(BG)the breaking of bread and ^(BH)to ^[as]prayer.

^43 [at]Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many ^(BI)wonders and ^[au]signs were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all the believers ^[av]were together and ^(BJ)had all things in common; ⁴⁵ and they ^(BK)would sell their property and possessions and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need. ^46 (BL)Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and ^(BM)breaking bread ^[aw]from house to house, they were taking their ^[ax]meals together with gladness and ^[ay]sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and ^(BN)having favor with all the people. And the Lord ^(BO)was adding to ^[az]their number day by day ^(BP)those who were being saved.