Laws of Warfare

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see ^(A)horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, ^(B)do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. ² When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people. ³ He shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. ^(C)Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, ⁴ for the Lord your God ^(D)is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ ⁵ The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house and has not ^(E)dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. ⁶ Who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not ^[a]begun to use its fruit? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man ^[b]would begin to use its fruit. ^7 (F)And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not ^[c]married her? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man ^[d]would marry her.’ ⁸ Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘^(G)Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that ^[e]he might not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart.’ ⁹ When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

¹⁰ “When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall ^[f]offer it terms of peace. ¹¹ If it ^[g]agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your ^(H)forced labor and shall serve you. ¹² However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³ When the Lord your God gives it into your hand, ^(I)you shall strike all the ^[h]men in it with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴ Only the women and the children and ^(J)the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall ^[i]use the spoil of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁵ Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations ^[j]nearby. ^16 (K)Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. ¹⁷ But you shall ^[k]utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you, ¹⁸ so that they may not teach you to do ^(L)according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would ^(M)sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ “When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. ^[l]For is the tree of the field a man, that it should ^[m]be besieged by you? ²⁰ Only the trees which you know ^[n]are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.

Praise for the Lord’s Goodness.

A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day.

Peter Reports at Jerusalem

11 Now the apostles and ^(A)the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, ^[a](B)those who were circumcised took issue with him, ³ saying, “^(C)You ^[b]went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” ⁴ But Peter began speaking ^[c]and proceeded to explain to them ^(D)in orderly sequence, saying, ⁵ “^(E)I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw ^(F)a vision, an ^[d]object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from ^[e]the sky; and it came right down to me, ⁶ and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it ^[f]I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the ^[g]crawling creatures and the birds of the ^[h]air. ⁷ I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; ^[i]kill and eat.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing ^[j]unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹ But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘^(G)What God has cleansed, no longer ^[k]consider unholy.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into ^[l]the sky. ¹¹ And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from ^(H)Caesarea. ^12 (I)The Spirit told me to go with them ^[m](J)without misgivings. ^(K)These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ And he reported to us how he had seen the angel ^[n]standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; ¹⁴ and he will speak ^(L)words to you by which you will be saved, you and ^(M)all your household.’ ¹⁵ And as I began to speak, ^(N)the Holy Spirit fell upon them just ^(O)as He did upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶ And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘^(P)John baptized with water, but you will be baptized ^[o]with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ Therefore if ^(Q)God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, ^(R)who was I that I could ^[p]stand in God’s way?” ¹⁸ When they heard this, they ^[q]quieted down and ^(S)glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the ^(T)repentance that leads to life.”

The Church at Antioch

^19 (U)So then those who were scattered because of the ^[r]persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way ^[s]to ^(V)Phoenicia and ^(W)Cyprus and ^(X)Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. ²⁰ But there were some of them, men of ^(Y)Cyprus and ^(Z)Cyrene, who came to ^(AA)Antioch and began speaking to the ^[t](AB)Greeks also, ^[u](AC)preaching the Lord Jesus. ²¹ And ^(AD)the hand of the Lord was with them, and ^(AE)a large number who believed turned to the Lord. ²² The ^[v]news about them ^[w]reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent ^(AF)Barnabas off ^[x]to ^(AG)Antioch. ²³ Then when he arrived and ^[y]witnessed ^(AH)the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with ^[z]resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; ²⁴ for he was a good man, and ^(AI)full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And ^(AJ)considerable ^[aa]numbers were ^[ab]brought to the Lord. ²⁵ And he left for ^(AK)Tarsus to look for Saul; ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to ^(AL)Antioch. And for an entire year they ^[ac]met with the church and taught considerable ^[ad]numbers; and ^(AM)the disciples were first called ^(AN)Christians in ^(AO)Antioch.

²⁷ Now ^[ae]at this time ^(AP)some prophets came down from Jerusalem to ^(AQ)Antioch. ²⁸ One of them named ^(AR)Agabus stood up and began to indicate ^[af]by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine ^(AS)all over the ^[ag]world. ^[ah]And this took place in the reign of ^(AT)Claudius. ²⁹ And in the proportion that any of ^(AU)the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the ^[ai]relief of ^(AV)the brethren living in Judea. ^30 (AW)And this they did, sending it ^[aj]in charge of ^(AX)Barnabas and Saul to the ^(AY)elders.