Spiritism Forbidden

⁹ “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to ^[a](A)imitate the detestable things of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone ^(B)who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, a ^(C)soothsayer, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ¹¹ or one who casts a spell, ^(D)or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who consults the dead. ¹² For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and ^(E)because of these detestable things the Lord your God is going to drive them out before you. ^13 (F)You are to be blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴ For these nations, which you are going to dispossess, listen to ^(G)soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

¹⁵ “^(H)The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. ¹⁶ This is ^(I)in accordance with everything that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’ ¹⁷ And ^(J)the Lord said to me, ‘They have ^[b]spoken well. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and ^(K)I will put My words in his mouth, and ^(L)he shall speak to them everything that I command him. ^19 (M)And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will ^[c]require it of him. ²⁰ But the prophet who speaks a word ^(N)presumptuously in My name, a word which I have not commanded him to speak, or ^(O)which he speaks in the name of other gods, ^[d]that prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How will we recognize the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ ^22 (P)When the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it ^(Q)presumptuously; you are not to be afraid of him.

Paul Turns to the Gentiles

⁴⁴ The next ^(A)Sabbath nearly all the city assembled to hear the word of ^[a]the Lord. ⁴⁵ But when ^(B)the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were ^[b]blaspheming. ⁴⁶ Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you ^(C)first. Since you repudiate it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, ^(D)we are turning to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us,

⁴⁸ When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying ^(G)the word of ^[e]the Lord; and all who ^(H)had been appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹ And ^(I)the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region. ⁵⁰ But ^(J)the Jews incited the ^[f](K)devout women ^(L)of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their ^[g]region. ⁵¹ But ^(M)they shook off the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to ^(N)Iconium. ⁵² And the disciples were continually ^(O)filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Acceptance and Opposition

14 In ^(P)Iconium ^(Q)they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a way ^(R)that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of ^(S)Greeks. ² But ^(T)the ^[h](U)unbelieving Jews stirred up the ^[i]minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against ^(V)the brothers. ³ Therefore they spent a long time there ^(W)speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that ^[j](X)signs and wonders be performed by their hands. ^4 (Y)But the ^[k]people of the city were divided; and some ^[l]sided with ^(Z)the Jews, while others, with ^(AA)the apostles. ⁵ And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and ^(AB)the Jews with their rulers, to treat them abusively and to ^(AC)stone them, ⁶ they became aware of it and fled to the cities of ^(AD)Lycaonia, ^(AE)Lystra and ^(AF)Derbe, and the surrounding region; ⁷ and there they continued to ^(AG)preach the gospel.

Cities of Refuge

19 “^(A)When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (B)you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to ^[a]possess. ³ You shall prepare the ^[b]roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as an inheritance, ^[c]so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.

⁴ “^(C)Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he ^[d]kills his friend ^[e]unintentionally, ^[f]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[g]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[h]handle and ^[i]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue ^[j]him ^[k]in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and ^[l]take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’

⁸ “And if the Lord your God ^(D)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He ^[m]promised to give your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[n]carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(E)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—^(F)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰ So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and ^(G)guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.

¹¹ “But ^(H)if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes ^[o]him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ^13 [p](I)You shall not pity him, but ^(J)you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.

Laws of Landmark and Testimony

¹⁴ “^(K)You shall not displace your neighbor’s boundary marker, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to ^[q]possess.

¹⁵ “^(L)A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin ^[r]that he commits; on the ^[s]testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. ^16 (M)If a malicious witness rises up against a person to testify against him of wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both people who have the dispute shall stand ^(N)before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. ¹⁸ And the judges ^(O)shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has testified against his brother falsely, ¹⁹ then ^(P)you shall do to him just as he had planned to do to his brother. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you. ²⁰ And ^(Q)the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. ²¹ So ^[t](R)you shall not show pity: ^(S)life for life, ^(T)eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

⁸ In ^(A)Lystra ^(B)a man was sitting whose feet were incapacitated. He had been disabled from his mother’s womb, and had never walked. ⁹ This man was listening to Paul as he spoke. Paul ^(C)looked at him intently and saw that he had ^(D)faith to be ^[a]made well, ¹⁰ and he said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” ^(E)And the man leaped up and began to walk. ¹¹ When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the ^(F)Lycaonian language, “^(G)The gods have become like men and have come down to us!” ¹² And they began calling Barnabas, ^[b]Zeus, and Paul, ^[c]Hermes, since he was ^[d]the chief speaker. ¹³ Moreover, the priest of Zeus, whose temple was ^[e]just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and ^(H)wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴ But when ^(I)the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about it, they ^(J)tore their ^[f]robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also ^(K)men, of the same nature as you, ^(L)preaching the gospel to you, to turn from these ^[g](M)useless things to a ^(N)living God, who ^(O)made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything that is in them. ^16 [h]In past generations He ^(P)permitted all the ^[i]nations to ^(Q)go their own ways; ¹⁷ yet ^(R)He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and ^(S)gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, ^[j]satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁸ And even by saying these things, only with difficulty did they restrain the crowds from offering sacrifices to them.

¹⁹ But ^(T)Jews came from ^(U)Antioch and ^(V)Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they ^(W)stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking that he was dead. ²⁰ But while ^(X)the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he left with Barnabas for ^(Y)Derbe. ²¹ And after they had ^(Z)preached the gospel to that city and had ^(AA)made a good number of disciples, they returned to ^(AB)Lystra, to ^(AC)Iconium, and to ^(AD)Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of ^(AE)the disciples, encouraging them to continue in ^(AF)the faith, and saying, “^(AG)It is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God.” ²³ When ^(AH)they had appointed ^(AI)elders for them in every church, having ^(AJ)prayed with fasting, they ^(AK)entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁴ They passed through ^(AL)Pisidia and came into ^(AM)Pamphylia. ²⁵ When they had spoken the word in ^(AN)Perga, they went down to Attalia. ²⁶ From there they sailed to ^(AO)Antioch, ^(AP)where they had been ^(AQ)entrusted to the grace of God for the work that they had ^[k]accomplished. ²⁷ When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to ^(AR)report all the things that God had done with them and ^[l]how He had opened a ^(AS)door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they spent ^[m]a long time with ^(AT)the disciples.