Persons Excluded from the Assembly

23 “^(A)No one who is ^[a]emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord. ² No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the Lord. ^3 (B)No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord, ^4 (C)because they did not meet you with ^[b]food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you ^(D)Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ^[c]Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵ Nevertheless, the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God ^(E)turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God ^(F)loves you. ^6 (G)You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.

⁷ “You shall not detest an Edomite, for ^(H)he is your brother; you shall not detest an Egyptian, ^(I)because you were an alien in his land. ⁸ The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

⁹ “When you go out as ^[d]an army against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

¹⁰ “^(J)If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not ^[e]reenter the camp. ¹¹ But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may ^[f]reenter the camp.

¹² “You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there, ¹³ and you shall have a ^[g]spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn ^[h]to cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ Since ^(K)the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to ^[i]defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be ^(L)holy; and He must not see ^[j]anything indecent among you ^[k]or He will turn away from you.

¹⁵ “^(M)You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has ^[l]escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ He shall live with you in your midst, in the place which he shall choose in one of your ^[m]towns where it pleases him; ^(N)you shall not mistreat him.

¹⁷ “^(O)None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, ^(P)nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute. ¹⁸ You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a ^[n](Q)dog into the house of the Lord your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

¹⁹ “^(R)You shall not charge interest to your ^[o]countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest. ^20 (S)You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your ^[p]countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that ^(T)the Lord your God may bless you in all ^[q]that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to ^[r]possess.

²¹ “^(U)When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, ^[s]and the Lord your God will surely require it of you. ²² However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you. ²³ You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have ^[t]promised.

²⁴ “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes ^[u]until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your ^[v]basket.

²⁵ “^(V)When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.

Acceptance and Opposition

14 In ^(A)Iconium ^(B)they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a manner ^(C)that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of ^(D)Greeks. ² But ^(E)the Jews who ^[a](F)disbelieved stirred up the ^[b]minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against ^(G)the brethren. ³ Therefore they spent a long time there ^(H)speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that ^[c](I)signs and wonders be done by their hands. ^4 (J)But the ^[d]people of the city were divided; and some ^[e]sided with ^(K)the Jews, and some with ^(L)the apostles. ⁵ And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and ^(M)the Jews with their rulers, to mistreat and to ^(N)stone them, ⁶ they became aware of it and fled to the cities of ^(O)Lycaonia, ^(P)Lystra and ^(Q)Derbe, and the surrounding region; ⁷ and there they continued to ^(R)preach the gospel.

⁸ At ^(S)Lystra ^(T)a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. ⁹ This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, ^(U)when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had ^(V)faith to be ^[f]made well, ¹⁰ said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” ^(W)And he leaped up and began to walk. ¹¹ When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the ^(X)Lycaonian language, “^(Y)The gods have become like men and have come down to us.” ¹² And they began calling Barnabas, ^[g]Zeus, and Paul, ^[h]Hermes, because he was ^[i]the chief speaker. ¹³ The priest of Zeus, whose temple was ^[j]just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and ^(Z)wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴ But when ^(AA)the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they ^(AB)tore their ^[k]robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also ^(AC)men of the same nature as you, and ^(AD)preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these ^[l](AE)vain things to a ^(AF)living God, ^(AG)who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. ^16 [m]In the generations gone by He ^(AH)permitted all the ^[n]nations to ^(AI)go their own ways; ¹⁷ and yet ^(AJ)He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and ^(AK)gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, ^[o]satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁸ Even saying these things, with difficulty they restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.

¹⁹ But ^(AL)Jews came from ^(AM)Antioch and ^(AN)Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they ^(AO)stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. ²⁰ But while ^(AP)the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to ^(AQ)Derbe. ²¹ After they had ^(AR)preached the gospel to that city and had ^(AS)made many disciples, they returned to ^(AT)Lystra and to ^(AU)Iconium and to ^(AV)Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of ^(AW)the disciples, encouraging them to continue in ^(AX)the faith, and saying, “^(AY)Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” ²³ When ^(AZ)they had appointed ^(BA)elders for them in every church, having ^(BB)prayed with fasting, they ^(BC)commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁴ They passed through ^(BD)Pisidia and came into ^(BE)Pamphylia. ²⁵ When they had spoken the word in ^(BF)Perga, they went down to Attalia. ²⁶ From there they sailed to ^(BG)Antioch, from ^(BH)which they had been ^(BI)commended to the grace of God for the work that they had ^[p]accomplished. ²⁷ When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to ^(BJ)report all things that God had done with them and ^[q]how He had opened a ^(BK)door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they spent ^[r]a long time with ^(BL)the disciples.