Abominable Practices

⁹ “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, ^(A)you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone ^(B)who burns his son or his daughter as an offering,^[a] anyone who ^(C)practices divination or ^(D)tells fortunes or interprets omens, or ^(E)a sorcerer ¹¹ or a charmer or ^(F)a medium or a necromancer or ^(G)one who inquires of the dead, ^12 (H)for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And ^(I)because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. ¹³ You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, ¹⁴ for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.

A New Prophet like Moses

^15 (J)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— ¹⁶ just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb ^(K)on the day of the assembly, when you said, ^(L)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ ¹⁷ And the Lord said to me, ^(M)‘They are right in what they have spoken. ^18 (N)I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. ^(O)And I will put my words in his mouth, and ^(P)he shall speak to them all that I command him. ^19 (Q)And whoever will ^(R)not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. ^20 (S)But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or^[b] who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— ^22 (T)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; ^(U)the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

⁴⁴ The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. ^45 (A)But ^(B)when the Jews^[a] saw the crowds, they were filled with ^(C)jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, ^(D)reviling him. ⁴⁶ And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God ^(E)be spoken first to you. ^(F)Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves ^(G)unworthy of eternal life, behold, we ^(H)are turning to the Gentiles. ^47 (I)For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

⁴⁸ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and ^(M)glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. ^50 (N)But the Jews incited the devout ^(O)women of high standing and the leading men of the city, ^(P)stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and ^(Q)drove them out of their district. ⁵¹ But they ^(R)shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. ⁵² And the disciples were filled ^(S)with joy and ^(T)with the Holy Spirit.

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

14 Now at Iconium ^(U)they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. ^2 (V)But the ^(W)unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against ^(X)the brothers.^{[b] 3} So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for ^(Y)the Lord, who bore witness to ^(Z)the word of his grace, ^(AA)granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. ⁴ But the people of the city ^(AB)were divided; ^(AC)some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. ⁵ When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, ^(AD)to mistreat them and ^(AE)to stone them, ⁶ they learned of it and ^(AF)fled to ^(AG)Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, ⁷ and there they continued to preach the gospel.

Laws Concerning Cities of Refuge

19 “When ^(A)the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (B)you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³ You shall measure the distances^[a] and divide into three parts the area of the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them.

⁴ “This is the provision for ^(C)the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past— ⁵ as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live, ⁶ lest ^(D)the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. ⁷ Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities. ^8 (E)And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, ^(F)as he has sworn to your fathers, and ^(G)gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers— ⁹ provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways—^(H)then you shall add three other cities to these three, ¹⁰ lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

¹¹ “But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him ^(I)and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ^13 (J)Your eye shall not pity him, ^(K)but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood^[b] from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

Property Boundaries

^14 (L)“You shall not move your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

Laws Concerning Witnesses

¹⁵ “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. ^(M)Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. ¹⁶ If ^(N)a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, ^(O)before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. ¹⁸ The judges shall ^(P)inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, ^19 (Q)then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil^[c] from your midst. ²⁰ And the rest ^(R)shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. ^21 (S)Your eye shall not pity. ^(T)It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Paul and Barnabas at Lystra

⁸ Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was ^(A)crippled from birth and had never walked. ⁹ He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and ^(B)seeing that he had faith to be made well,^{[a] 10} said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he ^(C)sprang up and began walking. ¹¹ And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, ^(D)“The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” ¹² Barnabas they called ^(E)Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³ And the priest of ^(F)Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and ^(G)wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they ^(H)tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ¹⁵ “Men, ^(I)why are you doing these things? We also are men, ^(J)of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that ^(K)you should turn from these ^(L)vain things to ^(M)a living God, ^(N)who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. ¹⁶ In past generations he ^(O)allowed all the nations ^(P)to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷ Yet ^(Q)he did not leave himself without witness, for he ^(R)did good by ^(S)giving you rains from heaven and ^(T)fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with ^(U)food and ^(V)gladness.” ¹⁸ Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

Paul Stoned at Lystra

^19 (W)But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, ^(X)they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. ²⁰ But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. ²¹ When they had preached the gospel to that city and had ^(Y)made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, ^22 (Z)strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them ^(AA)to continue in ^(AB)the faith, and saying that ^(AC)through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. ²³ And when they had ^(AD)appointed ^(AE)elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting ^(AF)they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch in Syria

²⁴ Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. ²⁵ And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, ²⁶ and from there they sailed to Antioch, ^(AG)where they had been ^(AH)commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. ²⁷ And when they arrived and gathered the church together, ^(AI)they declared all that God had done with them, and ^(AJ)how he had ^(AK)opened ^(AL)a door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they remained no little time with the disciples.