A Chosen People

7 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy and he clears away many nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you^(A)— ² and when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.^{(B) 3} Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,^{(C) 4} for that would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.^{(D) 5} But this is how you must deal with them: break down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred poles,^[a] and burn their idols with fire.^{(E) 6} For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.^(F)

⁷ “It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples.^{(G) 8} It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.^{(H) 9} Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,^{(I) 10} and who repays in their own person those who reject him. He does not delay but repays in their own person those who reject him. ¹¹ Therefore, observe diligently the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that I am commanding you today.

³⁵ “It was this Moses whom they rejected when they said, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ and whom God now sent as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.^{(A) 36} He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.^{(B) 37} This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you from your own people as he raised me up.’^{(C) 38} He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to us.^{(D) 39} Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead the way for us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’^{(E) 41} At that time they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands.^{(F) 42} But God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

⁴⁴ “Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, as God^[a] directed when he spoke to Moses, ordering him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.^{(H) 45} Our ancestors in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the peoples whom God drove out before our ancestors. And it was there until the time of David,^{(I) 46} who found favor with God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.^{[b](J) 47} But it was Solomon who built a house for him. ⁴⁸ Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands;^[c] as the prophet says,^(K)

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.^{(M) 52} Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.^{(N) 53} You are the ones who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.”^(O)

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴ When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen.^{[d] 55} But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.^{(P) 56} “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”^{(Q) 57} But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. ⁵⁸ Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.^{(R) 59} While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”^{(S) 60} Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.^[e](T) 8 ¹ And Saul approved of their killing him.

Saul Persecutes the Church

That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.^{(U) 2} Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.^{(V) 3} But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.^(W)

Philip Preaches in Samaria

⁴ Now those who were scattered went from place to place proclaiming the word.^(X)

Blessings for Obedience

¹² “If you heed these ordinances by diligently observing them, the Lord your God will maintain with you the covenant loyalty that he swore to your ancestors;^{(A) 13} he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you.^{(B) 14} You shall be the most blessed of peoples, with neither sterility nor barrenness among you or your livestock.^{(C) 15} The Lord will turn away from you every illness; all the dread diseases of Egypt that you experienced, he will not inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you.^{(D) 16} You shall devour all the peoples that the Lord your God is giving over to you, showing them no pity; you shall not serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.^(E)

¹⁷ “If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?’ ¹⁸ do not be afraid of them. Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt,^{(F) 19} the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, 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.^{(G) 20} Moreover, the Lord your God will send swarms of hornets^[a] against them until even the survivors and the fugitives are destroyed.^{(H) 21} Have no dread of them, for the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a great and awesome God.^{(I) 22} The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to make a quick end of them, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you.^{(J) 23} But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great panic until they are destroyed. ²⁴ He will hand their kings over to you, and you shall blot out their name from under heaven; no one will be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.^{(K) 25} The images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them and take it for yourself, because you could be ensnared by it, for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God.^{(L) 26} Do not bring an abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.

Philip Preaches in Samaria

⁴ Now those who were scattered went from place to place proclaiming the word.^{(A) 5} Philip went down to the city^[a] of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah^[b] to them.^{(B) 6} The crowds with one accord listened eagerly to what was said by Philip, hearing and seeing the signs that he did, ⁷ for unclean spirits, crying with loud shrieks, came out of many who were possessed, and many others who were paralyzed or lame were cured.^{(C) 8} So there was great joy in that city.

⁹ Now a certain man named Simon had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he was someone great.^{(D) 10} All of them, from the least to the greatest, listened to him eagerly, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.”^{(E) 11} And they listened eagerly to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. ¹² But when they believed Philip, who was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.^{(F) 13} Even Simon himself believed. After being baptized, he stayed constantly with Philip and was amazed when he saw the signs and great miracles that took place.^(G)

¹⁴ Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.^{(H) 15} The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit^{(I) 16} (for as yet the Spirit had not come^[c] upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus).^{(J) 17} Then Peter and John^[d] laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.^{(K) 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 me also this power so that anyone 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 obtain God’s gift with money!^{(L) 21} You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God.^{(M) 22} Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.”^{(N) 24} Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you^[e] have said may happen to me.”

²⁵ Now after Peter and John^[f] had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news to many villages of the Samaritans.^(O)