The Feasts of Passover, of Weeks, and of Booths

16 “Observe ^(A)the month of Abib and ^[a](B)celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. ² You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name. ^3 (C)You shall not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in a hurry), so that you will remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt ^(D)all the days of your life. ⁴ For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in your entire territory, and ^(E)none of the meat which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall be left overnight until the morning. ⁵ You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your ^[b]towns which the Lord your God is giving you; ⁶ but only ^(F)at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt. ⁷ You shall ^(G)cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents. ⁸ For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and ^(H)on the seventh day there shall be ^(I)a festive assembly to the Lord your God; you shall do no work on it.

⁹ “^(J)You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. ¹⁰ Then you shall ^[c]celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a ^[d]voluntary offering of your hand in a proportional amount, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you; ¹¹ and you shall ^(K)rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your son and your daughter, and your male and female slaves, and ^(L)the Levite who is in your ^[e]town, and ^(M)the stranger, the ^[f]orphan, and the widow who are in your midst, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. ^12 (N)You shall also remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful and ^[g]comply with these statutes.

¹³ “^(O)You shall ^[h]celebrate the Feast of ^[i]Booths for seven days when you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat; ¹⁴ and you shall ^(P)rejoice in your feast, you, your son and your daughter, and your male and female slaves, and the Levite, the stranger, the ^[j]orphan, and the widow who are in your ^[k]towns. ¹⁵ For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

¹⁶ “^(Q)Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths; and ^(R)they are not to appear before the Lord empty-handed. ¹⁷ Everyone ^[l]shall give as he is able, in accordance with the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.

¹⁸ “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your ^[m]towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. ^19 (S)You shall not distort justice, ^(T)you shall not ^[n]show partiality; and ^(U)you shall not accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous. ²⁰ Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that ^(V)you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

²⁵ And ^(A)Barnabas and ^(B)Saul returned ^(C)when they had fulfilled their ^[a]mission to Jerusalem, taking along with them ^(D)John, who was also called Mark.

First Missionary Journey

13 Now there were ^(E)prophets and ^(F)teachers at ^(G)Antioch, in the ^(H)church that was there: ^(I)Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of ^(J)Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with ^(K)Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² While they were ^[b]serving the Lord and fasting, ^(L)the Holy Spirit said, “Set ^(M)Barnabas and Saul apart for Me for ^(N)the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then, when they had fasted, ^(O)prayed, and ^(P)laid their hands on them, ^(Q)they sent them away.

⁴ So, being ^(R)sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to ^(S)Cyprus. ⁵ When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in ^(T)the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had ^(U)John as their helper. ⁶ When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a ^(V)magician, a Jewish ^(W)false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷ who was with the ^(X)proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸ But Elymas the ^(Y)magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the ^(Z)proconsul away from ^(AA)the faith. ⁹ But Saul, who was also known as Paul, ^[c](AB)filled with the Holy Spirit, stared at him, ¹⁰ and said, “^[d]You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you ^(AC)son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop making crooked ^(AD)the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹ Now, behold, ^(AE)the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. ¹² Then the ^(AF)proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at ^(AG)the teaching of the Lord.

⁸ “^(A)If a case is too difficult for you to decide, between ^[a]one kind of homicide or another, between ^[b]one kind of lawsuit or another, and between ^[c]one kind of assault or another, that are cases of dispute in your ^[d]courts, then you shall arise and go up to ^(B)the place which the Lord your God chooses. ⁹ So you shall come to ^(C)the Levitical priests or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the ^[e]verdict. ¹⁰ Then you shall act in accordance with the ^[f]terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be careful to act in accordance with everything that they instruct you to do. ^11 (D)In accordance with the ^[g]terms of the law about which they instruct you, and in accordance with the verdict which they tell you, you shall act; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. ¹² But the person who acts ^(E)insolently by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to the judge, that person shall die; so you shall eliminate the evil from Israel. ¹³ Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act ^(F)insolently again.

¹⁴ “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you ^(G)take possession of it and live in it, and you say, ‘^(H)I will appoint a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ ¹⁵ you shall in fact appoint a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One ^(I)from among your countrymen you shall appoint as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves, anyone who is not your countryman. ^16 (J)In any case, he is not to acquire many horses for himself, nor shall he ^(K)make the people return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since ^(L)the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ ¹⁷ And ^(M)he shall not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

¹⁸ “Now it shall come about, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Law on a scroll ^[h](N)in the presence of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ And it shall be with him, and he shall read it ^(O)all the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear the Lord his God, ^[i]by carefully following all the words of this Law and these statutes, ²⁰ so that his heart will not be haughty toward his countrymen, ^(P)and that he will not turn away from the commandment to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may ^[j]live long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

¹³ Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from ^(A)Paphos and came to ^(B)Perga in ^(C)Pamphylia; but ^(D)John left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ But going on from Perga, they arrived at ^(E)Pisidian ^(F)Antioch, and on ^(G)the Sabbath day they went into ^(H)the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ After ^(I)the reading of the Law and ^(J)the Prophets, ^(K)the synagogue officials sent word to them, saying, “^[a]Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” ¹⁶ Paul stood up, and ^(L)motioning with his hand said,

“Men of Israel, and ^(M)you who fear God, listen: ¹⁷ The God of this people Israel ^(N)chose our fathers and ^[b](O)made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm ^(P)He led them out from it. ¹⁸ For ^(Q)a period of about forty years ^(R)He put up with them in the wilderness. ^19 (S)When He had destroyed ^(T)seven nations in the land of Canaan, He ^(U)distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took ^(V)about 450 years. ²⁰ After these things He ^(W)gave them judges until ^(X)Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then they ^(Y)asked for a king, and God gave them ^(Z)Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²² After He had ^(AA)removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘^(AB)I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My ^[c]will.’ ^23 (AC)From the descendants of this man, ^(AD)according to promise, God has brought to Israel ^(AE)a Savior, Jesus, ²⁴ after ^(AF)John had proclaimed, before ^[d]His coming, a ^(AG)baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ And while John ^(AH)was completing his course, ^(AI)he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶ “^[e]Brothers, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of ^(AJ)this salvation has been sent. ²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem, and their ^(AK)rulers, ^(AL)recognizing neither Him nor the ^[f]declarations of ^(AM)the prophets which are ^(AN)read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. ²⁸ And though they found no grounds for putting Him to death, they ^(AO)asked Pilate that He be executed. ²⁹ When they had ^(AP)carried out everything that was written concerning Him, ^(AQ)they took Him down from the ^[g](AR)cross and ^(AS)laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God ^(AT)raised Him from the dead; ³¹ and for many days ^(AU)He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now ^(AV)His witnesses to the people. ³² And we ^(AW)preach to you the good news of ^(AX)the promise made to the fathers, ³³ that God has fulfilled this promise to those of us who are the descendants by ^(AY)raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘^(AZ)You are My Son; today I have fathered You.’ ³⁴ As for the fact that He ^(BA)raised Him from the dead, never again to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘^(BB)I will give you the holy and faithful mercies of David.’ ³⁵ Therefore, He also says in another Psalm: ‘^(BC)You will not ^[h]allow Your ^[i]Holy One to ^[j]undergo decay.’ ³⁶ For ^(BD)David, after he had ^[k]served God’s ^(BE)purpose in his own generation, ^(BF)fell asleep, and was ^[l]buried among his fathers and ^[m]underwent decay; ³⁷ but He whom God ^(BG)raised did not ^[n]undergo decay. ³⁸ Therefore let it be known to you, ^[o]brothers, that ^(BH)through ^[p]Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹ and ^[q]through Him ^(BI)everyone who believes is ^[r]freed ^[s]from all things, from which you could not be ^[t]freed ^[u]through the Law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Therefore, see that the thing spoken of ^(BJ)in the Prophets does not come upon you:

⁴² As ^[w]Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people repeatedly begged to have these ^[x]things spoken to them the next ^(BL)Sabbath. ⁴³ Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and the ^(BM)God-fearing ^[y](BN)proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking to them and urging them to continue in ^(BO)the grace of God.