Sundry Laws

22 “^(A)You shall not see your ^[a]countryman’s ox or his sheep straying away, and ^[b]pay no attention to them; you shall certainly bring them back to your countryman. ² If your countryman is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall remain with you until your countryman looks for it; then you shall restore it to him. ³ Thus you shall do with his donkey, and you shall do the same with his garment, and you shall do likewise with anything lost by your countryman, which he has lost and you have found. You are not allowed to ^[c]neglect them. ⁴ You shall not see your countryman’s donkey or his ox fallen down on the way, and ^[d]pay no attention to them; you shall certainly help him to raise them up.

⁵ “A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

⁶ “If you happen to come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, ^(B)you shall not take the mother with the young; ⁷ you shall certainly let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, ^(C)in order that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

⁸ “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you will not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone falls from it.

⁹ “^(D)You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or ^[e]all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the increase of the vineyard will become defiled.

¹⁰ “^(E)You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

¹¹ “^(F)You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together.

¹² “^(G)You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.

Laws on Morality

¹³ “^(H)If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then ^[f]turns against her, ¹⁴ and charges her with shameful deeds and ^[g]publicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I came near her, I did not find her a virgin,’ ¹⁵ then the girl’s father and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of the girl’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. ¹⁶ The girl’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man for a wife, but he ^[h]turned against her; ¹⁷ and behold, he has charged her with shameful deeds, saying, “I did not find your daughter a virgin.” But ^[i]this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. ¹⁸ So ^(I)the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him, ¹⁹ and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the girl’s father, because he ^[j]publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he cannot ^[k]divorce her all his days.

²⁰ “But if this ^[l](J)charge is true, that the girl was not found a virgin, ²¹ then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her ^[m]to death because she has ^(K)committed an act of folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house; thus ^(L)you shall purge the evil from among you.

²² “^(M)If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.

²³ “^(N)If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, ²⁴ then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them ^[n]to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

²⁵ “But if in the field the man finds the girl who is engaged, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lies with her shall die. ²⁶ But you shall do nothing to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case. ²⁷ When he found her in the field, the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her.

²⁸ “^(O)If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her and they are discovered, ²⁹ then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he cannot divorce her all his days.

³⁰ “^[o](P)A man shall not take his father’s wife so that he will not uncover his father’s skirt.

The Lord Implored to Avenge His People.

First Missionary Journey

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

⁴ So, being ^(N)sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to ^(O)Cyprus. ⁵ When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in ^(P)the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had ^(Q)John as their helper. ⁶ When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a ^(R)magician, a Jewish ^(S)false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷ who was with the ^(T)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 ^(U)magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the ^(V)proconsul away from ^(W)the faith. ⁹ But Saul, who was also known as Paul, ^[a](X)filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, ¹⁰ and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you ^(Y)son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked ^(Z)the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹ Now, behold, ^(AA)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 ^(AB)proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at ^(AC)the teaching of the Lord.

¹³ Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from ^(AD)Paphos and came to ^(AE)Perga in ^(AF)Pamphylia; but ^(AG)John left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ But going on from Perga, they arrived at ^(AH)Pisidian ^(AI)Antioch, and on ^(AJ)the Sabbath day they went into ^(AK)the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ After ^(AL)the reading of the Law and ^(AM)the Prophets ^(AN)the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, “Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” ¹⁶ Paul stood up, and ^(AO)motioning with his hand said,

“Men of Israel, and ^(AP)you who fear God, listen: ¹⁷ The God of this people Israel ^(AQ)chose our fathers and ^[b](AR)made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm ^(AS)He led them out from it. ¹⁸ For ^(AT)a period of about forty years ^(AU)He put up with them in the wilderness. ^19 (AV)When He had destroyed ^(AW)seven nations in the land of Canaan, He ^(AX)distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took ^(AY)about four hundred and fifty years. ²⁰ After these things He ^(AZ)gave them judges until ^(BA)Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then they ^(BB)asked for a king, and God gave them ^(BC)Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²² After He had ^(BD)removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘^(BE)I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My ^[c]will.’ ^23 (BF)From the descendants of this man, ^(BG)according to promise, God has brought to Israel ^(BH)a Savior, Jesus, ²⁴ after ^(BI)John had proclaimed before ^[d]His coming a ^(BJ)baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ And while John ^(BK)was completing his course, ^(BL)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 “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of ^(BM)this salvation has been sent. ²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem, and their ^(BN)rulers, ^(BO)recognizing neither Him nor the ^[e]utterances of ^(BP)the prophets which are ^(BQ)read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. ²⁸ And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they ^(BR)asked Pilate that He be ^[f]executed. ²⁹ When they had ^(BS)carried out all that was written concerning Him, ^(BT)they took Him down from ^(BU)the ^[g]cross and ^(BV)laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God ^(BW)raised Him from the dead; ³¹ and for many days ^(BX)He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now ^(BY)His witnesses to the people. ³² And we ^(BZ)preach to you the good news of ^(CA)the promise made to the fathers, ³³ that God has fulfilled this promise ^[h]to our children in that He ^(CB)raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘^(CC)You are My Son; today i have begotten You.’ ³⁴ As for the fact that He ^(CD)raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘^(CE)I will give you the holy and ^[i]sure blessings of David.’ ³⁵ Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘^(CF)You will not ^[j]allow Your ^[k]Holy One to ^[l]undergo decay.’ ³⁶ For ^(CG)David, after he had ^[m]served ^(CH)the purpose of God in his own generation, ^(CI)fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and ^[n]underwent decay; ³⁷ but He whom God ^(CJ)raised did not ^[o]undergo decay. ³⁸ Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that ^(CK)through ^[p]Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹ and ^[q]through Him ^(CL)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 take heed, so that the thing spoken of ^(CM)in the Prophets may not come upon you:

⁴² As ^[w]Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these ^[x]things might be spoken to them the next ^(CO)Sabbath. ⁴³ Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the ^(CP)God-fearing ^[y](CQ)proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in ^(CR)the grace of God.

Paul Turns to the Gentiles

⁴⁴ The next ^(CS)Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of ^[z]the Lord. ⁴⁵ But when ^(CT)the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were ^[aa]blaspheming. ⁴⁶ Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you ^(CU)first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, ^(CV)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 ^(CY)the word of ^[ac]the Lord; and as many as ^(CZ)had been appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹ And ^(DA)the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region. ⁵⁰ But ^(DB)the Jews incited the ^[ad](DC)devout women ^(DD)of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their ^[ae]district. ⁵¹ But ^(DE)they shook off the dust of their feet in protest against them and went to ^(DF)Iconium. ⁵² And the disciples were continually ^(DG)filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.