Clean and Unclean Animals

14 “You are ^(A)sons of the Lord your God; ^(B)you shall not cut yourselves nor ^[a]shave a bald spot ^[b]above your forehead for the dead. ² For you are ^(C)a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a ^(D)people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

³ “^(E)You shall not eat any detestable thing. ^4 (F)These are the animals that you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ^5 [c]the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. ⁶ And any animal that has a divided hoof and has its hoofs split in two, and ^[d]chews the cud, among the animals, ^[e]that animal you may eat. ⁷ However, you are not to eat these among the ones that ^[f]chew the cud, or among those that have the hoof divided in ^[g]two: the camel, the ^[h]rabbit, and the rock hyrax, for though they ^[i]chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are unclean to you. ⁸ And the pig, because it has a divided hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, nor touch their carcasses.

⁹ “These you may eat of everything that is in the water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat, ¹⁰ but anything that does not have fins and scales, you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹ “You may eat any clean bird. ¹² But ^(G)these are the ones that you shall not eat: the ^[j]eagle and the vulture and the ^[k]buzzard, ¹³ and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds, ¹⁴ and every raven in its kind, ¹⁵ and the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, and the hawk in their kinds, ¹⁶ the little owl, the ^[l]great owl, the white owl, ¹⁷ the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, ¹⁸ the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat. ¹⁹ And all the swarming insects with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten. ²⁰ You may eat any clean bird.

²¹ “^(H)You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the stranger who is in your ^[m]town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a stranger; for you are ^(I)a holy people to the Lord your God. ^(J)You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

²² “You ^(K)shall certainly tithe all the produce from ^[n]what you sow, which comes from the field every year. ²³ You shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, ^(L)at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may ^(M)learn to fear the Lord your God always. ²⁴ But if the ^[o]distance is so great for you that you are not able to ^[p]bring the tithe, since the place where the Lord your God chooses ^(N)to set His name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you, ²⁵ then you shall ^[q]exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. ²⁶ And you may spend the money on whatever your ^[r]heart desires: on oxen, sheep, wine, other strong drink, or whatever your ^[s]heart ^[t]desires; and ^(O)there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. ²⁷ Also you shall not neglect ^(P)the Levite who is in your ^[u]town, ^(Q)for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

²⁸ “^(R)At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and you shall deposit it in your ^[v]town. ²⁹ And the Levite, ^(S)because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and ^(T)the stranger, the ^[w]orphan, and the widow who are in your ^[x]town, shall come and ^(U)eat and be satisfied, in order that ^(V)the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Fate of Ananias and Sapphira

5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, ² and ^(A)kept back some of the ^[a]proceeds for himself, with his wife’s ^[b]full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he ^(B)laid it at the apostles’ feet. ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has ^(C)Satan filled your heart to lie ^(D)to the Holy Spirit and to ^(E)keep back some of the ^[c]proceeds of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not ^[d]under your control? Why is it that you have ^[e]conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but ^(F)to God.” ⁵ And as he heard these words, Ananias ^(G)collapsed and ^[f]died; and ^(H)great fear came over all who heard about it. ⁶ The young men got up and ^(I)covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

⁷ Now an interval of about three hours elapsed, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land ^(J)for ^[g]this price?” And she said, “Yes, for ^[h]that price.” ⁹ Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to ^(K)put ^(L)the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” ¹⁰ And immediately she ^(M)collapsed at his feet and ^[i]died; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ And ^(N)great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard about these things.

^12 [j]At the hands of the apostles many ^[k](O)signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all ^[l]together in ^(P)Solomon’s ^[m]portico. ¹³ But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, ^(Q)the people held them in high esteem. ¹⁴ And increasingly ^(R)believers in the Lord, large numbers of men and women, were being ^(S)added to their number, ¹⁵ to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by ^(T)at least his shadow might fall on any of them. ¹⁶ The ^[n]people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together as well, bringing people who were sick ^[o]or tormented with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.

Imprisonment and Release

¹⁷ But the high priest stood up, along with all his associates (that is ^(U)the sect of ^(V)the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸ They laid hands on the apostles and ^(W)put them in a public prison. ¹⁹ But during the night ^(X)an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and leading them out, he said, ²⁰ “Go, stand and ^[p]speak to the people in the temple area ^[q](Y)the whole message of this Life.” ²¹ Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple area ^(Z)about daybreak and began to teach.

Now when ^(AA)the high priest and his associates came, they called ^(AB)the ^[r]Council together, that is, all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison for them to be brought. ²² But ^(AC)the officers who came did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported, ²³ saying, “We found the prison locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” ²⁴ Now when ^(AD)the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what ^[s]would come of this. ²⁵ But someone came and reported to them, “The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple area and teaching the people!” ²⁶ Then ^(AE)the captain went along with ^(AF)the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for ^(AG)they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned).

²⁷ When they had brought them, they had them stand ^[t]before ^(AH)the Council. The high priest interrogated them, ²⁸ saying, “We gave you ^(AI)strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and ^[u]yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and ^(AJ)intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us.” ²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “^(AK)We must obey God rather than men. ^30 (AL)The God of our fathers ^(AM)raised up Jesus, whom you ^(AN)put to death by hanging Him on ^[v](AO)a cross. ^31 (AP)He is the one whom God exalted ^[w]to His right hand as a ^[x](AQ)Prince and a ^(AR)Savior, to grant ^(AS)repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. ³² And we are ^(AT)witnesses ^[y]of these things; and ^(AU)so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Gamaliel’s Counsel

³³ But when they heard this, they became ^(AV)infuriated and nearly decided to execute them. ³⁴ But a Pharisee named ^(AW)Gamaliel, a ^(AX)teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in ^(AY)the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. ³⁵ And he said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful as to what you are about to do with these men. ³⁶ For, some time ago Theudas appeared, ^(AZ)claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined him. ^[z]But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷ After this man, Judas of Galilee appeared in the days of ^(BA)the census and drew away some people after him; he also perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. ³⁸ And so in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, for if the source of this plan or ^[aa]movement ^(BB)is men, it will be overthrown; ³⁹ but if the source is God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found ^(BC)fighting against God.”

⁴⁰ They followed his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they ^(BD)flogged them and ordered them not to ^[ab]speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. ⁴¹ So they went on their way from the presence of the ^[ac](BE)Council, ^(BF)rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame ^(BG)for His name. ^42 (BH)And every day, in the temple and ^[ad]from house to house, they did not stop teaching and ^(BI)preaching the good news of Jesus as the ^[ae]Christ.