Warnings

7 “^(A)When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to take possession of it, and He drives away many nations from before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, ^(B)seven nations greater and mightier than you, ² and when the Lord your God turns them over to you and you ^[a]defeat them, ^(C)you shall ^[b]utterly destroy them. ^(D)You shall not make a covenant with them ^(E)nor be gracious to them. ³ Furthermore, ^(F)you shall not intermarry with them: you shall not give your ^[c]daughters to ^[d]their sons, nor shall you take ^[e]their daughters for your ^[f]sons. ⁴ For ^[g]they will turn your ^[h]sons away from ^[i]following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and ^(G)He will quickly destroy you. ⁵ But this is what you shall do to them: ^(H)you shall tear down their altars, smash their memorial stones, cut their ^[j]Asherim to pieces, and burn their carved images in the fire. ⁶ For you are ^(I)a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be ^(J)a people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the ^[k]earth.

⁷ “^(K)The Lord did not ^[l]make you His beloved nor choose you because you were greater in number than any of the peoples, since you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but because the Lord loved you and kept the ^(L)oath which He swore to your forefathers, ^(M)the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of ^[m]slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know therefore that the Lord your God, ^(N)He is God, ^(O)the faithful God, ^(P)who keeps ^[n]His covenant and ^[o]His faithfulness to a thousand generations for those who ^(Q)love Him and keep His commandments; ¹⁰ but He ^(R)repays those who hate Him to ^[p]their faces, to eliminate ^[q]them; He will not hesitate toward him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. ¹¹ Therefore, you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.

³⁵ “This Moses whom they ^(A)disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God ^[a]sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the ^[b]help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. ^36 (B)This man led them out, performing ^(C)wonders and ^[c]signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the ^(D)wilderness for forty years. ³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘^(E)God will raise up for you a prophet ^[d]like me from your countrymen.’ ³⁸ This is the one who was in ^(F)the ^[e]assembly in the wilderness together with ^(G)the angel who spoke to him at length on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received ^(H)living ^(I)words to pass on to you. ³⁹ Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him; on the contrary they ^(J)rejected him and turned back to Egypt in their hearts, ^40 (K)saying to Aaron, ‘Make us ^[f]a god who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ ^41 [g]At that time ^(L)they made a ^[h]calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in ^(M)the works of their hands. ⁴² But God ^(N)turned away and gave them over to ^[i]serve the heavenly ^[j]lights; as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘^(O)You did not offer Me victims and sacrifices ^(P)for forty years in the wilderness, did you, house of Israel? ^43 (Q)You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god ^[k]Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will deport you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had ^(R)the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it ^(S)according to the pattern which he had seen. ⁴⁵ Our fathers in turn received it, and they also ^(T)brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the ^[l]nations that God drove out from our fathers, until the time of David. ^46 [m](U)David found favor in God’s sight, and ^(V)asked that he might ^[n]find a dwelling place for the ^[o]house of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was ^(W)Solomon who built a house for Him. ⁴⁸ However, ^(X)the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

⁵¹ “You men who are ^(AA)stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. ^52 (AB)Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of ^(AC)the Righteous One, and ^(AD)you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him; ⁵³ you who received the Law as ^(AE)ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

Stephen Put to Death

⁵⁴ Now when they heard this, they were ^(AF)infuriated, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But he, being ^(AG)full of the Holy Spirit, ^(AH)looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing ^(AI)at the right hand of God; ⁵⁶ and he said, “Behold, I see the ^(AJ)heavens opened and ^(AK)the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one ^[p]mind. ⁵⁸ When they had ^(AL)driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and ^(AM)the witnesses ^(AN)laid aside their cloaks at the feet of ^(AO)a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ They went on stoning Stephen as he ^(AP)called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ Then he ^(AQ)fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, ^(AR)do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he ^[q](AS)fell asleep.

Saul Persecutes the Church

8 ^(AT)Now Saul approved of putting ^[r]Stephen to death.

And on that day a great persecution ^[s]began against ^(AU)the church in Jerusalem, and they were all ^(AV)scattered throughout the regions of Judea and ^(AW)Samaria, except for the apostles. ² Some devout men buried Stephen, and mourned loudly for him. ³ But ^(AX)Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and he would ^(AY)drag away men and women and put them in prison.

Philip in Samaria

⁴ Therefore, those ^(AZ)who had been scattered went through places ^[t](BA)preaching the word.

Promises of God

¹² “^(A)Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep ^[a]His covenant with you and ^[b]His faithfulness which He swore to your forefathers. ¹³ And He will ^(B)love you, bless you, and ^(C)make you numerous; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain, your new wine, and your oil, the newborn of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, ^[c]in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you. ¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no sterile male or ^(D)infertile female among you or among your cattle. ¹⁵ And ^(E)the Lord will remove from you all sickness; and He will not inflict upon you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will give them to all who hate you. ¹⁶ You shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will turn over to you; ^(F)your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be ^(G)a snare to you.

¹⁷ “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I ^(H)dispossess them?’ ¹⁸ you are not to be afraid of them; you shall ^(I)remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: ^19 (J)the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders, and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰ Indeed, the Lord your God will send ^(K)the hornet against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish. ²¹ You are not to be terrified of them, because ^(L)the Lord your God is in your midst, ^(M)a great and awesome God. ^22 (N)And the Lord your God will drive away these nations from you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, otherwise the ^[d]wild animals would become too numerous for you. ^23 (O)But the Lord your God will turn them over to you, and will ^[e]throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. ^24 (P)And He will hand over their kings to you, so that you will eliminate their name from under heaven; ^(Q)no one will be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ The carved images of their gods you are to ^(R)burn with fire; you shall ^(S)not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be ^(T)trapped by it; for it is an ^(U)abomination to the Lord your God. ²⁶ And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become ^(V)designated for destruction, like it; you are to utterly detest it, and you are to utterly loathe it, for it is something designated for destruction.

Philip in Samaria

⁴ Therefore, those ^(A)who had been scattered went through places ^[a](B)preaching the word. ^5 (C)Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming the ^[b]Christ to them. ⁶ The crowds were paying attention with one mind to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the ^[c]signs which he was performing. ⁷ For in the case of many who had ^(D)unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been ^(E)paralyzed or limped on crutches were healed. ⁸ So there was ^(F)much rejoicing in that city.

⁹ Now a man named Simon had previously been practicing ^(G)magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, ^(H)claiming to be someone great; ¹⁰ and all the people, from small to great, were paying attention to him, saying, “^(I)This man is the Power of God that is called Great.” ¹¹ And they were paying attention to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his ^(J)magic arts. ¹² But when they believed Philip ^(K)as he was preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were being ^(L)baptized. ¹³ Now even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed ^(M)signs and ^(N)great miracles taking place, he was repeatedly amazed.

¹⁴ Now when ^(O)the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them ^(P)Peter and John, ¹⁵ who came down and prayed for them ^(Q)that they would receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶ (For He had ^(R)not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been ^(S)baptized ^[d]in the name of the Lord Jesus.) ¹⁷ Then they ^(T)began laying their hands on them, and they were ^(U)receiving the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹ saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰ But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could ^(V)acquire the gift of God with money! ²¹ You have ^(W)no part or share in this ^[e]matter, for your heart is not ^(X)right before God. ²² Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, ^(Y)if possible, the intention of your heart will be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you are ^[f]in the gall of bitterness and in ^(Z)the ^[g]bondage of unrighteousness.” ²⁴ But Simon answered and said, “^(AA)Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

An Ethiopian Receives Christ

²⁵ So, when they had solemnly ^(AB)testified and spoken ^(AC)the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were ^(AD)preaching the gospel to many villages of the ^(AE)Samaritans.