Child-Sacrifice, Divination, and Magic Prohibited

⁹ “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations.^{(A) 10} No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer,^{(B) 11} or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. ¹² For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you.^{(C) 13} You must remain completely loyal to the Lord your God. ¹⁴ Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the Lord your God does not permit you to do so.

A New Prophet Like Moses

¹⁵ “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.^{[a](D) 16} This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’^{(E) 17} Then the Lord replied to me, ‘They are right in what they have said.^{(F) 18} I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet,^[b] who shall speak to them everything that I command.^{(G) 19} Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet^[c] shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable.^{(H) 20} But any prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’^{(I) 21} You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?’ ²² If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.^(J)

⁴⁴ The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.^{[a] 45} But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and blaspheming, they contradicted what was spoken by Paul.^{(A) 46} Then both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the gentiles.^{(B) 47} For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

⁴⁸ When the gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord, and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers. ⁴⁹ Thus the word of the Lord spread throughout the region. ⁵⁰ But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their region. ⁵¹ So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.^{(D) 52} And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.^(E)

Paul and Barnabas in Iconium

14 The same thing occurred in Iconium, where Paul^[b] and Barnabas^[c] went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers. ² But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. ³ So they remained for a long time speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done through them.^{(F) 4} But the residents of the city were divided: some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.^{(G) 5} And when an attempt was made by both gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them,^{(H) 6} the apostles^[d] learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region,^{(I) 7} and there they continued proclaiming the good news.

Laws concerning the Cities of Refuge

19 “When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you and you have dispossessed them and settled in their towns and in their houses,^{(A) 2} you shall set apart three cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.^{(B) 3} You shall calculate the distances^[a] and divide into three regions the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any homicide can flee to one of them.

⁴ “Now this is the case of a homicide who might flee there and live, that is, someone who has killed another person unintentionally when the two had not been at enmity before.^{(C) 5} Suppose someone goes into the forest with another to cut wood, and when one of them swings the ax to cut down a tree, the head slips from the handle and strikes the other person, who then dies; the killer may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶ But if the distance is too great, the avenger of blood in hot anger might pursue and overtake and put the killer to death, although a death sentence was not deserved, since the two had not been at enmity before.^{(D) 7} Therefore I command you: You shall set apart three cities.

⁸ “If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors—and he will give you all the land that he promised your ancestors to give you, ⁹ provided you diligently observe this entire commandment that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and walking always in his ways—then you shall add three more cities to these three,^{(E) 10} so that the blood of an innocent person may not be shed in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.^(F)

¹¹ “But if someone at enmity with another lies in wait and attacks and takes the life of that person and flees into one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of the killer’s city shall send to have the culprit taken from there and handed over to the avenger of blood to be put to death. ¹³ Show no pity; you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.^(G)

Property Boundaries

¹⁴ “You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, set up by former generations, on the property that will be allotted to you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.^(H)

Law concerning Witnesses

¹⁵ “A single witness shall not suffice to convict a person of any crime or wrongdoing in connection with any offense that may be committed. Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be sustained.^{(I) 16} If a malicious witness comes forward to accuse someone of wrongdoing,^{(J) 17} then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days,^{(K) 18} and the judges shall make a thorough inquiry. If the witness is a false witness, having testified falsely against another, ¹⁹ then you shall do to the false witness just as the false witness had meant to do to the other. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.^{(L) 20} The rest shall hear and be afraid, and a crime such as this shall never again be committed among you. ²¹ Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.^(M)

Paul and Barnabas in Lystra and Derbe

⁸ In Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet and had never walked, for he had been lame from birth.^{(A) 9} He listened to Paul as he was speaking. And Paul, looking at him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed,^{(B) 10} said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And the man^[a] sprang up and began to walk. ¹¹ When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”^{(C) 12} Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³ The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city,^[b] brought oxen and garlands to the gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice. ¹⁴ When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting, ¹⁵ “People,^[c] why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.^{(D) 16} In past generations he allowed all peoples to follow their own ways,^{(E) 17} yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good, giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.”^{(F) 18} Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.

¹⁹ But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. Then they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.^{(G) 20} But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city. The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.^(H)

The Return to Antioch in Syria

²¹ After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, then on to Iconium and Antioch. ²² There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.”^{(I) 23} And after they had appointed elders for them in each church, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.^(J)

²⁴ Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. ²⁵ When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. ²⁶ From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work^[d] that they had completed.^{(K) 27} When they arrived, they called the church together and related all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith for the gentiles. ²⁸ And they stayed there with the disciples for some time.