The Covenant in Moab

29 ^[a](A)These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the ^(B)covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

^2 [b]And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; ^3 (C)the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. ⁴ Yet to this day ^(D)the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. ⁵ And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; ^(E)your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. ^6 (F)You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or other strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. ^7 (G)When you ^[c]reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we ^[d]defeated them; ⁸ and we took their land and ^(H)gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ^9 (I)So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, ^(J)in order that you may be successful in everything that you do.

¹⁰ “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, that is, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from ^(K)the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, ¹² so that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³ in order that He may establish you today as His people, and that ^(L)He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴ “Now it is not with you alone that I am ^(M)making this covenant and this oath, ^15 (N)but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today ¹⁶ (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of the nations through which you passed; ¹⁷ moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of ^(O)wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); ^18 (P)so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you ^(Q)a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. ¹⁹ And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will consider himself fortunate in his heart, saying, ‘I will do well though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order ^[e]to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ ²⁰ The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and ^(R)His wrath will ^[f](S)burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will ^(T)wipe out his name from under heaven. ²¹ Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant ^(U)which is written in this Book of the Law.

²² “Now the future generation, your sons who rise up after you and ^(V)the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say, ²³ ‘All its land is ^(W)brimstone and salt, ^(X)burned debris, ^[g]unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows on it, like the overthrow of ^(Y)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ ²⁴ All the nations will say, ‘^(Z)Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great ^[h]outburst of anger?’ ²⁵ Then people will say, ‘It is ^(AA)because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not ^[i]assigned to them. ²⁷ Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, ^(AB)to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; ²⁸ and ^(AC)the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and in great wrath, and hurled them into another land, as it is this day.’

²⁹ “^(AD)The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but ^(AE)the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may ^[j]follow all the words of this Law.

All People Exhorted to Praise God.

A Psalm for ^[a]Thanksgiving.

The Council in Jerusalem

15 ^(A)Some men came down from Judea and began teaching ^(B)the brothers, “Unless you are ^(C)circumcised according to ^(D)the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” ² And after Paul and Barnabas had ^[a]a heated argument and ^(E)debate with them, ^(F)the brothers determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the ^(G)apostles and elders concerning this issue. ³ Therefore, after being ^(H)sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both ^(I)Phoenicia and Samaria, ^(J)describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they were bringing great joy to all ^(K)the brothers and sisters. ⁴ When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were received by the church, ^(L)the apostles, and the elders, and they ^(M)reported all that God had done with them. ⁵ But some of ^(N)the sect of the ^(O)Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to ^(P)circumcise ^[b]them and to direct them to keep the Law of Moses.”

^6 (Q)The apostles and the elders came together to ^[c]look into this ^[d]matter. ⁷ After there had been much ^(R)debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “^[e]Brothers, you know that ^[f]in the early days ^(S)God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of ^(T)the gospel and believe. ⁸ And God, ^(U)who knows the heart, testified to them ^(V)giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; ⁹ and ^(W)He made no distinction between us and them, ^(X)cleansing their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Since this is the case, why are you ^(Y)putting God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which ^(Z)neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear? ¹¹ But we believe that we are saved through ^(AA)the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

¹² All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were ^(AB)relating all the ^(AC)signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.

James’ Judgment

¹³ After they stopped speaking, ^[g](AD)James responded, saying, “^[h]Brothers, listen to me. ^14 (AE)Simeon has described how God first concerned Himself about taking a people for His name from among the Gentiles. ¹⁵ The words of ^(AF)the Prophets agree with this, just as it is written:

¹⁹ Therefore, it is ^(AM)my judgment that we do not cause trouble for those from the Gentiles who are turning to God, ²⁰ but that we write to them that they abstain from ^[l](AN)things contaminated by idols, from ^(AO)acts of sexual immorality, from ^(AP)what has been ^[m]strangled, and from blood. ²¹ For ^(AQ)from ancient generations Moses has those who preach him in every city, since ^[n]he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

²² Then it seemed good to ^(AR)the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to ^(AS)Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas who was called Barsabbas, and ^(AT)Silas, leading men among ^(AU)the brothers, ²³ and they ^[o]sent this letter with them:

³⁰ So when they were sent away, ^(BO)they went down to Antioch; and after gathering the ^[u]congregation together, they delivered the letter. ³¹ When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its ^[v]encouragement. ^32 (BP)Judas and ^(BQ)Silas, also being ^(BR)prophets themselves, ^[w]encouraged and strengthened ^(BS)the brothers and sisters with a lengthy message. ³³ After they had spent time there, they were sent away from the brothers and sisters ^(BT)in peace to those who had ^(BU)sent them out.^{[x] 35} But ^(BV)Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and ^(BW)preaching ^(BX)the word of the Lord, with many others also.

Second Missionary Journey

³⁶ After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return and visit the brothers and sisters in ^(BY)every city in which we proclaimed ^(BZ)the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” ³⁷ Barnabas wanted to take ^(CA)John, called Mark, along with them also. ³⁸ But Paul was of the opinion that they should not take along with them this man who had ^(CB)deserted them ^[y]in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. ³⁹ Now it turned into such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took ^(CC)Mark with him and sailed away to ^(CD)Cyprus. ⁴⁰ But Paul chose ^(CE)Silas, and left after being ^(CF)entrusted by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹ And he was traveling through ^(CG)Syria and ^(CH)Cilicia, strengthening the churches.