Wanderings in the Wilderness

2 “^(A)Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the ^[a]Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we circled ^(B)Mount Seir for many days. ² And the Lord spoke to me, saying, ³ ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, ^4 (C)and command the people, saying, “You are going to pass through the ^(D)territory of your brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and ^(E)they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; ⁵ do not ^[b]provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even as much as a ^[c]footprint, ^(F)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You are to buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all ^[d]that you have done; He has known your ^[e]wandering through this ^(G)great wilderness. These ^(H)forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked anything.”’

⁸ “So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the ^(I)Arabah road, away from Elath and ^(J)Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. ⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not attack Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of ^[f]their land as a possession, because I have given ^(K)Ar to ^(L)the sons of Lot as a possession.’ ¹⁰ (The ^(M)Emim lived there previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as ^(N)Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ^12 (O)The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before ^[g]them, and settled in their place; ^(P)just as Israel did to the land of ^[h]their possession which the Lord gave them.) ¹³ ‘Now arise and cross over the ^[i]Wadi Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the ^[j]Wadi Zered. ¹⁴ Now the ^[k]time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the ^[l]Wadi Zered was ^(Q)thirty-eight years, until ^(R)all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, just as ^(S)the Lord had sworn to them. ^15 (T)Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.

¹⁶ “So it came about, when ^(U)all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, ¹⁷ that the Lord spoke to me, saying, ¹⁸ ‘Today you shall cross over ^(V)Ar, the border of Moab. ¹⁹ When you come opposite the ^(W)sons of Ammon, do not attack them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to ^(X)the sons of Lot as a possession.’ ²⁰ (It is also regarded as the land of the ^(Y)Rephaim, because the Rephaim previously lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, ²¹ a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before ^[m]them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, ²² just as He did for the sons of Esau, who ^(Z)live in Seir, when He destroyed ^(AA)the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place, where they remain even to this day. ²³ And as for the ^(AB)Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the ^[n](AC)Caphtorim, who came from ^[o](AD)Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.) ²⁴ ‘Arise, set out, and pass through the ^[p](AE)Valley of Arnon. Look! I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; start taking possession and plunge into battle with him. ²⁵ This day I will begin to put ^(AF)the dread and fear of you upon the faces of ^[q]people everywhere, ^[r]who, when they hear the news of you, ^(AG)will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

The Day of Pentecost

2 When ^(A)the day of Pentecost ^[a]had come, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled ^(B)the whole house where they were sitting. ³ And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, ^[b]distributing themselves, and a tongue ^[c]rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all ^(C)filled with the Holy Spirit and began to ^(D)speak with different ^[d]tongues, as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out.

⁵ Now there were Jews residing in Jerusalem, ^(E)devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And when ^(F)this sound occurred, the crowd came together and they were bewildered, because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own ^[e]language. ^7 (G)They were amazed and astonished, saying, “^[f]Why, are not all these who are speaking ^(H)Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we each hear them in our own ^[g]language ^[h]to which we were born? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and ^(I)Cappadocia, ^(J)Pontus and ^[i](K)Asia, ^10 (L)Phrygia and ^(M)Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya around ^(N)Cyrene, and ^[j](O)visitors from Rome, both Jews and ^[k](P)proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own ^[l]tongues of the mighty deeds of God.” ¹² And ^(Q)they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others were jeering and saying, “^(R)They are full of ^[m]sweet wine!”

Peter’s Sermon

¹⁴ But Peter, taking his stand with ^(S)the other eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, ^[n]know this, and pay attention to my words. ¹⁵ For these people are not drunk, as you assume, ^(T)since it is only the ^[o]third hour of the day; ¹⁶ but this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

²⁶ “^(A)So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land; I will ^[a]travel only on the road. I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, ^(B)only let me pass through on ^[b]foot, ²⁹ just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in ^(C)Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ ³⁰ But ^(D)Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass ^[c]through his land; for the ^(E)Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today. ³¹ And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to turn Sihon and his land over ^[d]to you. Begin taking possession, so that you may possess his land.’

³² “Then Sihon came out ^[e]with all his people to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ³³ And ^(F)the Lord our God turned him over ^[f]to us, and we ^[g](G)defeated him with his sons and all his people. ³⁴ So we captured all his cities at that time and ^[h](H)utterly destroyed ^[i]the men, women, and children of every city. We left no survivor. ³⁵ We took ^(I)only the animals as our plunder, and the spoils of the cities which we had captured. ³⁶ From ^(J)Aroer which is on the edge of the ^[j]Valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the ^[k]valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too ^[l]high for us; the Lord our God turned it all over ^[m]to us. ^37 (K)Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the ^[n]river ^(L)Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us to avoid.

Conquests Recounted

3 “^(M)Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, came out ^[o]with all his people to meet us in battle at Edrei. ² But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him and all his people and his land over to you; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’ ³ So the Lord our God also handed over to us Og, king of Bashan, with all his people, and we struck ^[p]them until no survivor was ^[q]left. ⁴ We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of ^(N)Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵ All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many ^[r]unwalled towns.

²² “Men of Israel, listen to these words: ^(A)Jesus the Nazarene, ^(B)a Man ^[a]attested to you by God with ^[b]miracles and ^(C)wonders and ^[c]signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³ this Man, delivered over by the ^(D)predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, ^(E)you nailed to a cross by the hands of ^[d]godless men and put Him to death. ^24 [e]But ^(F)God raised Him from the dead, putting an end to the ^[f]agony of death, since it ^(G)was impossible for Him to be held ^[g]in its power. ²⁵ For David says of Him,

²⁹ “^[k]Brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the ^(K)patriarch David that he both ^(L)died and ^(M)was buried, and ^(N)his tomb is ^[l]with us to this day. ³⁰ So because he was ^(O)a prophet and knew that ^(P)God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one ^[m]of his descendants on his throne, ³¹ he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the ^[n]Christ, that ^(Q)He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh ^[o]suffer decay. ³² It is this Jesus whom ^(R)God raised up, ^[p]a fact to which we are all ^(S)witnesses. ³³ Therefore, ^[q]since He has been exalted ^[r](T)at the right hand of God, and ^(U)has received ^(V)the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has ^(W)poured out this which you both see and hear. ³⁴ For it was not David who ascended into ^[s]heaven, but he himself says:

³⁶ Therefore let all the ^(Y)house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both ^(Z)Lord and ^[t]Christ—this Jesus ^(AA)whom you crucified.”

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were ^[u]pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “^[v]Brothers, ^(AB)what are we to do?” ³⁸ Peter said to them, “^(AC)Repent, and each of you be ^(AD)baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For ^(AE)the promise is for you and your children and for all who are ^(AF)far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰ And with many other words he solemnly ^(AG)testified and kept on urging them, saying, “^[w]Be saved from this ^(AH)perverse generation!” ⁴¹ So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand ^[x](AI)souls. ⁴² They were ^(AJ)continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to ^(AK)the breaking of bread and ^(AL)to ^[y]prayer.

^43 [z]Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many ^(AM)wonders and ^[aa]signs were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all the believers ^[ab]were together and ^(AN)had all things in common; ⁴⁵ and they ^(AO)would sell their property and possessions and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need. ^46 (AP)Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and ^(AQ)breaking bread ^[ac]from house to house, they were taking their ^[ad]meals together with gladness and ^[ae]sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and ^(AR)having favor with all the people. And the Lord ^(AS)was adding to ^[af]their number day by day ^(AT)those who were being saved.