¹⁰ All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, ¹¹ together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.^{(A) 12} You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, ¹³ to confirm you this day as his people,^(B) that he may be your God^(C) as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹⁴ I am making this covenant,^(D) with its oath, not only with you ¹⁵ who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today.^(E)

¹⁶ You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. ¹⁷ You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.^{(F) 18} Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns^(G) away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.^(H)

¹⁹ When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing^(I) on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,”^(J) they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive^(K) them; his wrath and zeal^(L) will burn^(M) against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot^(N) out their names from under heaven. ²¹ The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster,^(O) according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.^(P)

²² Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it.^{(Q) 23} The whole land will be a burning waste^(R) of salt^(S) and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,^(T) Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger.^{(U) 24} All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land?^(V) Why this fierce, burning anger?”

²⁵ And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.^{(W) 26} They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. ²⁷ Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book.^{(X) 28} In furious anger and in great wrath^(Y) the Lord uprooted^(Z) them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”

²⁹ The secret things belong to the Lord our God,^(AA) but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.^(AB)

In Thessalonica

17 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,^(A) where there was a Jewish synagogue. ² As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue,^(B) and on three Sabbath^(C) days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,^{(D) 3} explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer^(E) and rise from the dead.^(F) “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,”^(G) he said. ⁴ Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas,^(H) as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.

⁵ But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city.^(I) They rushed to Jason’s^(J) house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.^{[a] 6} But when they did not find them, they dragged^(K) Jason and some other believers^(L) before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world^(M) have now come here,^{(N) 7} and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.”^{(O) 8} When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. ⁹ Then they made Jason^(P) and the others post bond and let them go.

In Berea

¹⁰ As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas^(Q) away to Berea.^(R) On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.^{(S) 11} Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica,^(T) for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures^(U) every day to see if what Paul said was true.^{(V) 12} As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.^(W)

¹³ But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea,^(X) some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. ¹⁴ The believers^(Y) immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas^(Z) and Timothy^(AA) stayed at Berea. ¹⁵ Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens^(AB) and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.^(AC)

Prosperity After Turning to the Lord

30 When all these blessings and curses^(A) I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations,^{(B) 2} and when you and your children return^(C) to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart^(D) and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, ³ then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes^[a](E) and have compassion^(F) on you and gather^(G) you again from all the nations where he scattered^(H) you.^{(I) 4} Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens,^(J) from there the Lord your God will gather^(K) you and bring you back.^{(L) 5} He will bring^(M) you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous^(N) than your ancestors. ⁶ The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants,^(O) so that you may love^(P) him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. ⁷ The Lord your God will put all these curses^(Q) on your enemies who hate and persecute you.^{(R) 8} You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands I am giving you today. ⁹ Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land.^(S) The Lord will again delight^(T) in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, ¹⁰ if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law^(U) and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.^(V)

The Offer of Life or Death

¹¹ Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.^{(W) 12} It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven^(X) to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”^{(Y) 13} Nor is it beyond the sea,^(Z) so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”^{(AA) 14} No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.^(AB)

¹⁵ See, I set before you today life^(AC) and prosperity,^(AD) death^(AE) and destruction.^{(AF) 16} For I command you today to love^(AG) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live^(AH) and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.^(AI) You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹ This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you^(AJ) that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.^(AK) Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love^(AL) the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life,^(AM) and he will give^(AN) you many years in the land^(AO) he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

In Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue^(A) with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸ A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news^(B) about Jesus and the resurrection.^{(C) 19} Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus,^(D) where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching^(E) is that you are presenting? ²⁰ You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” ²¹ (All the Athenians^(F) and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus^(G) and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.^{(H) 23} For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship^(I)—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it^(J) is the Lord of heaven and earth^(K) and does not live in temples built by human hands.^{(L) 25} And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.^{(M) 26} From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.^{(N) 27} God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.^{(O) 28} ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a](P) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]

²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.^{(Q) 30} In the past God overlooked^(R) such ignorance,^(S) but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.^{(T) 31} For he has set a day when he will judge^(U) the world with justice^(V) by the man he has appointed.^(W) He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”^(X)

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead,^(Y) some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³ At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴ Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus,^(Z) also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.