Avoid Wicked Customs

⁹ “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(A)you shall not learn to follow the ^[a]abominations of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter ^(B)pass^[b] through the fire, ^(C)or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ^11 (D)or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or ^(E)one who calls up the dead. ¹² For all who do these things are ^[c]an abomination to the Lord, and ^(F)because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. ¹³ You shall be ^[d]blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴ For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not ^[e]appointed such for you.

A New Prophet Like Moses

^15 (G)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, ¹⁶ according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb ^(H)in the day of the assembly, saying, ^(I)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

¹⁷ “And the Lord said to me: ^(J)‘What they have spoken is good. ^18 (K)I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and ^(L)will put My words in His mouth, ^(M)and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ^19 (N)And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. ²⁰ But ^(O)the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or ^(P)who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— ^22 (Q)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, ^(R)if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it ^(S)presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. ⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they ^(A)opposed the things spoken by Paul. ⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ^(B)“It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but ^(C)since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, ^(D)we turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us:

⁴⁸ Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. ^(F)And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. ⁵⁰ But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, ^(G)raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. ^51 (H)But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium. ⁵² And the disciples ^(I)were filled with joy and ^(J)with the Holy Spirit.

At Iconium

14 Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the ^(K)Greeks believed. ² But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and ^[a]poisoned their ^[b]minds against the brethren. ³ Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, ^(L)who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and ^(M)wonders to be done by their hands.

⁴ But the multitude of the city was ^(N)divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the ^(O)apostles. ⁵ And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, ^(P)to abuse and stone them, ⁶ they became aware of it and ^(Q)fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. ⁷ And they were preaching the gospel there.

Three Cities of Refuge^(A)

19 “When the Lord your God ^(B)has cut 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 (C)you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³ You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴ “And ^(D)this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor ^[a]unintentionally, not having hated him in time past— ⁵ as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; ^6 (E)lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. ⁷ Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’

⁸ “Now if the Lord your God ^(F)enlarges your territory, as He swore to ^(G)your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, ⁹ and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, ^(H)then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, ^10 (I)lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

¹¹ “But ^(J)if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ^13 (K)Your eye shall not pity him, ^(L)but you shall ^[b]put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Property Boundaries

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

The Law Concerning Witnesses

^15 (N)“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. ¹⁶ If a false witness ^(O)rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, ^(P)before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. ¹⁸ And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, ^19 (Q)then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so ^(R)you shall put away the evil from among you. ^20 (S)And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. ^21 (T)Your eye shall not pity: ^(U)life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Idolatry at Lystra

^8 (A)And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. ⁹ This man heard Paul speaking. ^[a]Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, ¹⁰ said with a loud voice, ^(B)“Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked. ¹¹ Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, ^(C)“The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” ¹² And Barnabas they called ^[b]Zeus, and Paul, ^[c]Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³ Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, ^(D)intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.

¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, ^(E)they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, “Men, ^(F)why are you doing these things? ^(G)We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from ^(H)these useless things ^(I)to the living God, ^(J)who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, ^16 (K)who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. ^17 (L)Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, ^(M)gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with ^(N)food and gladness.” ¹⁸ And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.

Stoning, Escape to Derbe

^19 (O)Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, ^(P)they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be ^(Q)dead. ²⁰ However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

Strengthening the Converts

²¹ And when they had preached the gospel to that city ^(R)and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of the disciples, ^(S)exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ^(T)“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” ²³ So when they had ^(U)appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. ²⁴ And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. ²⁵ Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. ²⁶ From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed.

²⁷ Now when they had come and gathered the church together, ^(V)they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had ^(W)opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.