A Prescribed Place of Worship

12 “These ^(A)are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, ^(B)all^[a] the days that you live on the earth. ^2 (C)You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(D)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ And ^(E)you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their ^[b]wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. ⁴ You shall not ^(F)worship the Lord your God with such things.

⁵ “But you shall seek the ^(G)place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His ^(H)dwelling^[c] place; and there you shall go. ^6 (I)There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(J)firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ And ^(K)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(L)you shall rejoice in ^[d]all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—^(M)every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— ⁹ for as yet you have not come to the ^(N)rest^[e] and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you ^(O)rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, ¹¹ then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. ¹² And ^(P)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the ^(Q)Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. ¹³ Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; ¹⁴ but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

Barnabas and Saul at Antioch

^19 (A)Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. ²⁰ But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to ^(B)the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. ²¹ And ^(C)the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and ^(D)turned to the Lord.

²² Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out ^(E)Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. ²³ When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and ^(F)encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. ²⁴ For he was a good man, ^(G)full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. ^(H)And a great many people were added to the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas departed for ^(I)Tarsus to seek Saul. ²⁶ And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Relief to Judea

²⁷ And in these days ^(J)prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ Then one of them, named ^(K)Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of ^(L)Claudius Caesar. ²⁹ Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send ^(M)relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. ^30 (N)This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Debts Canceled Every Seven Years^(A)

15 “At the end of ^(B)every seven years you shall grant a ^[a]release of debts. ² And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall ^[b]release it; he shall not ^[c]require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release. ³ Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother, ⁴ except when there may be no poor among you; for the Lord will greatly ^(C)bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— ⁵ only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. ⁶ For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; ^(D)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.

Generosity to the Poor

⁷ “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the ^[d]gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(E)you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, ⁸ but ^(F)you shall ^[e]open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. ⁹ Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your ^(G)eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and ^(H)he cry out to the Lord against you, and ^(I)it become sin among you. ¹⁰ You shall surely give to him, and ^(J)your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because ^(K)for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. ¹¹ For ^(L)the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall ^[f]open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’

The Law Concerning Bondservants

^12 (M)“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is ^(N)sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³ And when you ^[g]send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; ¹⁴ you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has ^(O)blessed you with, you shall give to him. ^15 (P)You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. ¹⁶ And ^(Q)if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, ¹⁷ then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. ¹⁸ It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth ^(R)a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

Herod’s Violence to the Church

12 Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. ² Then he killed James ^(A)the brother of John with the sword. ³ And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during ^(B)the Days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ So ^(C)when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four ^[a]squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

Peter Freed from Prison

⁵ Peter was therefore kept in prison, but ^[b]constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. ⁶ And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were ^[c]keeping the prison. ⁷ Now behold, ^(D)an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. ⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.” ⁹ So he went out and followed him, and ^(E)did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought ^(F)he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, ^(G)which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

¹¹ And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that ^(H)the Lord has sent His angel, and ^(I)has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”

¹² So, when he had considered this, ^(J)he came to the house of Mary, the mother of ^(K)John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together ^(L)praying. ¹³ And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. ¹⁵ But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, ^(M)“It is his angel.”

¹⁶ Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷ But ^(N)motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸ Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small ^[d]stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death.

And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.

Herod’s Violent Death

²⁰ Now Herod had been very angry with the people of ^(O)Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus ^[e]the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because ^(P)their country was ^[f]supplied with food by the king’s country.

²¹ So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. ²² And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” ²³ Then immediately an angel of the Lord ^(Q)struck him, because ^(R)he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and ^[g]died.

²⁴ But ^(S)the word of God grew and multiplied.