Deuteronomy 23

New King James Version

Those Excluded from the Congregation

23 “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall ^(A)not enter the assembly of the Lord.

²“One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

³^(B)“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, ⁴^(C)because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and ^(D)because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ^[a]Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God ^(E)loves you. ⁶^(F)You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

⁷“You shall not abhor an Edomite, ^(G)for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because ^(H)you were an alien in his land. ⁸The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Cleanliness of the Campsite

⁹“When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. ¹⁰^(I)If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp. ¹¹But it shall be, when evening comes, that ^(J)he shall wash with water; and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.

¹²“Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; ¹³and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. ¹⁴For the Lord your God ^(K)walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

¹⁵^(L)“You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it ^[b]seems best to him; ^(M)you shall not oppress him.

¹⁷“There shall be no ritual ^[c]harlot ^(N)of the daughters of Israel, or a ^(O)perverted^[d] one of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are ^[e]an abomination to the Lord your God.

¹⁹^(P)“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. ²⁰^(Q)To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, ^(R)that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.

²¹^(S)“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. ²²But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. ²³^(T)That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

²⁴“When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. ²⁵When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, ^(U)you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 23:4 Heb. Aram Naharaim
Deuteronomy 23:16 pleases him best
Deuteronomy 23:17 Heb. qedeshah, fem. of qadesh (next note)
Deuteronomy 23:17 Heb. qadesh, one practicing sodomy and prostitution in religious rituals
Deuteronomy 23:18 detestable

Isaiah 48

New King James Version

Israel Refined for God’s Glory

48 “Hear this, O house of Jacob,
Who are called by the name of Israel,
And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;
Who swear by the name of the Lord,
And make mention of the God of Israel,
But ^(A)not in truth or in righteousness;
²For they call themselves ^(B)after the holy city,
And ^(C)lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is His name:

³“I have ^(D)declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them, ^(E)and they came to pass.
⁴Because I knew that you were ^[a]obstinate,
And ^(F)your neck was an iron sinew,
And your brow bronze,
⁵Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.’

⁶“You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.
⁷They are created now and not from the beginning;
And before this day you have not heard them,
Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’
⁸Surely you did not hear,
Surely you did not know;
Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
And were called ^(G)a transgressor from the womb.

⁹“For^(H) My name’s sake ^(I)I will ^[b]defer My anger,
And for My praise I will restrain it from you,
So that I do not cut you off.
¹⁰Behold, ^(J)I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the ^(K)furnace of affliction.
¹¹For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For ^(L)how should My name be profaned?
And ^(M)I will not give My glory to another.

God’s Ancient Plan to Redeem Israel

¹²“Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, My called:
I am He, ^(N)I am the ^(O)First,
I am also the Last.
¹³Indeed ^(P)My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;
When ^(Q)I call to them,
They stand up together.

¹⁴“All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
^(R)The Lord loves him;
^(S)He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
¹⁵I, even I, have spoken;
Yes, ^(T)I have called him,
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.

¹⁶“Come near to Me, hear this:
^(U)I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now ^(V)the Lord God and His Spirit
^[c]Have sent Me.”

¹⁷Thus says ^(W)the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
^(X)Who leads you by the way you should go.
¹⁸^(Y)Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
^(Z)Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
¹⁹^(AA)Your descendants also would have been like the sand,
And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;
His name would not have been cut off
Nor destroyed from before Me.”

²⁰^(AB)Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing,
Declare, proclaim this,
Utter it to the end of the earth;
Say, “The Lord has ^(AC)redeemed
His servant Jacob!”
²¹And they ^(AD)did not thirst
When He led them through the deserts;
He ^(AE)caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;
He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.

²²“There^(AF) is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 48:4 Heb. hard
Isaiah 48:9 delay
Isaiah 48:16 Heb. verb is sing.; or Has sent Me and His Spirit

Acts 3

New King James Version

A Lame Man Healed

3 Now Peter and John went up together ^(A)to the temple at the hour of prayer, ^(B)the ninth hour. ²And ^(C)a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, ^(D)to ^[a]ask alms from those who entered the temple; ³who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. ⁴And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” ⁵So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: ^(E)In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” ⁷And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. ⁸So he, ^(F)leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. ⁹^(G)And all the people saw him walking and praising God. ¹⁰Then they knew that it was he who ^(H)sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Preaching in Solomon’s Portico

¹¹Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch ^(I)which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. ¹²So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³^(J)The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, ^(K)glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you ^(L)delivered up and ^(M)denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. ¹⁴But you denied ^(N)the Holy One ^(O)and the Just, and ^(P)asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵and killed the ^[b]Prince of life, ^(Q)whom God raised from the dead, ^(R)of which we are witnesses. ¹⁶^(S)And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

¹⁷“Yet now, brethren, I know that ^(T)you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸But ^(U)those things which God foretold ^(V)by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. ¹⁹^(W)Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ²⁰and that He may send ^[c]Jesus Christ, who was ^[d]preached to you before, ²¹^(X)whom heaven must receive until the times of ^(Y)restoration of all things, ^(Z)which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since ^[e]the world began. ²²For Moses truly said to the fathers, ^(AA)‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. ²³And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ ²⁴Yes, and ^(AB)all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also ^[f]foretold these days. ²⁵^(AC)You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ^(AD)‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ ²⁶To you ^(AE)first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, ^(AF)in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

Footnotes

Acts 3:2 Beg
Acts 3:15 Or Originator
Acts 3:20 NU, M Christ Jesus
Acts 3:20 NU, M ordained for you before
Acts 3:21 Or time
Acts 3:24 NU, M proclaimed

Psalm 145

New King James Version

A Song of God’s Majesty and Love

^(A)A Praise of David.

145 I will ^[a]extol You, my God, O King;
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
²Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
³^(B)Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And ^(C)His greatness is ^[b]unsearchable.

⁴^(D)One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
⁵^[c]I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And ^[d]on Your wondrous works.
⁶Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
And I will declare Your greatness.
⁷They shall ^[e]utter the memory of Your great goodness,
And shall sing of Your righteousness.

⁸^(E)The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
⁹^(F)The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.

¹⁰^(G)All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
¹¹They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
And talk of Your power,
¹²To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
¹³^(H)Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all ^[f]generations.

¹⁴The Lord upholds all who fall,
And ^(I)raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵^(J)The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And ^(K)You give them their food in due season.
¹⁶You open Your hand
^(L)And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
¹⁸^(M)The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him ^(N)in truth.
¹⁹He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
²⁰^(O)The Lord preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
²¹My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever.

Footnotes

Psalm 145:1 praise
Psalm 145:3 Beyond our understanding
Psalm 145:5 So with MT, Tg.; DSS, LXX, Syr., Vg. They
Psalm 145:5 Lit. on the words of Your wondrous works
Psalm 145:7 eagerly utter, lit. bubble forth
Psalm 145:13 So with MT, Tg.; DSS, LXX, Syr., Vg. add The Lord is faithful in all His words, And holy in all His works

Proverbs 30:15-19

New King James Version

¹⁵The leech has two daughters—
Give and Give!

There are three things that are never satisfied,
Four never say, “Enough!”:
¹⁶^(A)The^[a] grave,
The barren womb,
The earth that is not satisfied with water—
And the fire never says, “Enough!”

¹⁷^(B)The eye that mocks his father,
And scorns obedience to his mother,
The ravens of the valley will pick it out,
And the young eagles will eat it.

¹⁸There are three things which are too wonderful for me,
Yes, four which I do not understand:
¹⁹The way of an eagle in the air,
The way of a serpent on a rock,
The way of a ship in the ^[b]midst of the sea,
And the way of a man with a virgin.