The Desert Years

2 “Then we turned and ^(A)journeyed into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea, ^(B)as the Lord spoke to me, and we ^[a]skirted Mount Seir for many days.

² “And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ³ ‘You have skirted this mountain ^(C)long enough; turn northward. ⁴ And command the people, saying, ^(D)“You are about to pass through the territory of ^(E)your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully. ⁵ Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, ^(F)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.

⁷ “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your ^[b]trudging through this great wilderness. ^(G)These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’

⁸ “And when we passed beyond our brethren, the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the plain, away from ^(H)Elath and Ezion Geber, we ^(I)turned and passed by way of the Wilderness of Moab. ⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given ^(J)Ar to ^(K)the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”

^10 (L)(The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as ^(M)the Anakim. ¹¹ They were also regarded as ^[c]giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ^12 (N)The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their ^[d]place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave them.)

¹³ “ ‘Now rise and cross over ^(O)the ^[e]Valley of the Zered.’ So we crossed over the Valley of the Zered. ¹⁴ And the time we took to come ^(P)from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, ^(Q)until all the generation of the men of war ^[f]was consumed from the midst of the camp, ^(R)just as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵ For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they ^[g]were consumed.

¹⁶ “So it was, when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, ¹⁷ that the Lord spoke to me, saying: ¹⁸ ‘This day you are to cross over at Ar, the boundary of Moab. ¹⁹ And when you come near the people of Ammon, do not harass them or meddle with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to ^(S)the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”

²⁰ (That was also regarded as a land of ^[h]giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them ^(T)Zamzummim, ^21 (U)a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, ²² just as He had done for the descendants of Esau, ^(V)who dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed ^(W)the Horites from before them. They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day. ²³ And ^(X)the Avim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza—^(Y)the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt in their place.)

²⁴ “ ‘Rise, take your journey, and ^(Z)cross over the River Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand ^(AA)Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin ^[i]to possess it, and engage him in battle. ^25 (AB)This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations ^[j]under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall ^(AC)tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

Coming of the Holy Spirit

2 When ^(A)the Day of Pentecost had fully come, ^(B)they were all ^[a]with one accord in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and ^(C)it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ Then there appeared to them ^[b]divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. ⁴ And ^(D)they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began ^(E)to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Crowd’s Response

⁵ And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, ^(F)devout men, from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And when this sound occurred, the ^(G)multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. ⁷ Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak ^(H)Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each in our own ^[c]language in which we were born? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and ^(I)Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and ^[d]Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” ¹² So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

¹³ Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

Peter’s Sermon^(J)

¹⁴ But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. ¹⁵ For these are not drunk, as you suppose, ^(K)since it is only ^[e]the third hour of the day. ¹⁶ But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

King Sihon Defeated^(A)

²⁶ “And I ^(B)sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, ^(C)with words of peace, saying, ^27 (D)‘Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the road, and I will turn neither to the right nor to the left. ²⁸ You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink; ^(E)only let me pass through on foot, ^29 (F)just as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord our God is giving us.’

^30 (G)“But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for ^(H)the Lord your God ^(I)hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as it is this day.

³¹ “And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to ^(J)give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.’ ^32 (K)Then Sihon and all his people came out against us to fight at Jahaz. ³³ And ^(L)the Lord our God delivered him ^[a]over to us; so ^(M)we defeated him, his sons, and all his people. ³⁴ We took all his cities at that time, and we ^(N)utterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones of every city; we left none remaining. ³⁵ We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we took. ^36 (O)From Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, and from ^(P)the city that is in the ravine, as far as Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us; ^(Q)the Lord our God delivered all to us. ³⁷ Only you did not go near the land of the people of Ammon—anywhere along the River ^(R)Jabbok, or to the cities of the mountains, or ^(S)wherever the Lord our God had forbidden us.

King Og Defeated^(T)

3 “Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan; and ^(U)Og king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle ^(V)at Edrei. ² And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did to ^(W)Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.’

³ “So the Lord our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan, with all his people, and we ^[b]attacked him until he had no survivors remaining. ⁴ And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, ^(X)all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵ All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns.

²² “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you ^(A)by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— ²³ Him, ^(B)being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, ^(C)you ^[a]have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; ^24 (D)whom God raised up, having ^[b]loosed the ^[c]pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. ²⁵ For David says concerning Him:

²⁹ “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you ^(G)of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ Therefore, being a prophet, ^(H)and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, ^[d]according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, ³¹ he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, ^(I)that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. ^32 (J)This Jesus God has raised up, ^(K)of which we are all witnesses. ³³ Therefore ^(L)being exalted ^[e]to ^(M)the right hand of God, and ^(N)having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He ^(O)poured out this which you now see and hear.

³⁴ “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

³⁶ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

³⁷ Now when they heard this, ^(Q)they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Then Peter said to them, ^(R)“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the ^[f]remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is to you and ^(S)to your children, and ^(T)to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

A Vital Church Grows

⁴⁰ And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this ^[g]perverse generation.” ⁴¹ Then those who ^[h]gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. ^42 (U)And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ ^[i]doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. ⁴³ Then fear came upon every soul, and ^(V)many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. ⁴⁴ Now all who believed were together, and ^(W)had all things in common, ⁴⁵ and ^[j]sold their possessions and goods, and ^(X)divided^[k] them among all, as anyone had need.

^46 (Y)So continuing daily with one accord ^(Z)in the temple, and ^(AA)breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And ^(AB)the Lord added ^[l]to the church daily those who were being saved.