22 ^[a] “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and ^(A)four sheep for a sheep. ^2 [b] If a thief is found ^(B)breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, ³ but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He^[c] shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then ^(C)he shall be sold for his theft. ⁴ If the stolen beast ^(D)is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, ^(E)he shall pay double.

⁵ “If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over, or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard.

⁶ “If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.

⁷ “If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe, and it is stolen from the man's house, then, if the thief is found, ^(F)he shall pay double. ⁸ If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. ⁹ For every breach of trust, whether it is for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a cloak, or for any kind of lost thing, of which one says, ‘This is it,’ the case of both parties shall come before God. The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.

¹⁰ “If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured or is driven away, without anyone seeing it, ^11 (G)an oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. The owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make restitution. ¹² But if ^(H)it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. ¹³ If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence. He shall not make restitution for what has been torn.

¹⁴ “If a man borrows anything of his neighbor, and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution. ¹⁵ If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution; if it was hired, it came for its hiring fee.^[d]

Laws About Social Justice

^16 (I)“If a man seduces a virgin^[e] who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price^[f] for her and make her his wife. ¹⁷ If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, ^(J)he shall pay money equal to the ^(K)bride-price for virgins.

^18 (L)“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

^19 (M)“Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.

^20 (N)“Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction.^[g]

^21 (O)“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ^22 (P)You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. ²³ If you do mistreat them, and they ^(Q)cry out to me, I will surely ^(R)hear their cry, ²⁴ and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and ^(S)your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

^25 (T)“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. ^26 (U)If ever you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, ²⁷ for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he ^(V)cries to me, I will hear, for I am ^(W)compassionate.

^28 (X)“You shall not revile God, nor ^(Y)curse a ruler of your people.

²⁹ “You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. ^(Z)The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. ^30 (AA)You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: ^(AB)seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.

^31 (AC)“You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore ^(AD)you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; ^(AE)you shall throw it to the dogs.

23 ^(AF)“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a ^(AG)malicious witness. ² You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, ^3 (AH)nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

^4 (AI)“If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. ⁵ If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

^6 (AJ)“You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. ^7 (AK)Keep far from a false charge, and ^(AL)do not kill the innocent and righteous, for ^(AM)I will not acquit the wicked. ^8 (AN)And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

^9 (AO)“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Laws About the Sabbath and Festivals

^10 (AP)“For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, ¹¹ but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

^12 (AQ)“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

^13 (AR)“Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

^14 (AS)“Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. ^15 (AT)You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of ^(AU)Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. ^(AV)None shall appear before me empty-handed. ¹⁶ You shall keep ^(AW)the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the ^(AX)Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. ^17 (AY)Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.

^18 (AZ)“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

¹⁹ “The best of the ^(BA)firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.

^(BB)“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Conquest of Canaan Promised

^20 (BC)“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. ²¹ Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; ^(BD)do not rebel against him, ^(BE)for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

²² “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then ^(BF)I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

^23 (BG)“When my angel goes before you and brings you ^(BH)to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, ²⁴ you shall ^(BI)not bow down to their gods nor serve them, ^(BJ)nor do as they do, but ^(BK)you shall utterly overthrow them and break their ^(BL)pillars in pieces. ²⁵ You ^(BM)shall serve the Lord your God, and ^(BN)he^[h] will bless your bread and your water, and ^(BO)I will take sickness away from among you. ^26 (BP)None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the ^(BQ)number of your days. ²⁷ I will send ^(BR)my terror before you and will throw into ^(BS)confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. ²⁸ And ^(BT)I will send hornets^[i] before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. ^29 (BU)I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. ^31 (BV)And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates,^[j] for ^(BW)I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. ^32 (BX)You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. ³³ They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, ^(BY)it will surely be a snare to you.”

The Covenant Confirmed

24 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, ^(BZ)Nadab, and Abihu, and ^(CA)seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. ² Moses ^(CB)alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

³ Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and ^(CC)all the rules.^[k] And all the people answered with one voice and said, ^(CD)“All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” ⁴ And ^(CE)Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve ^(CF)pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. ⁶ And ^(CG)Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ^(CH)“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” ^8 (CI)And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and ^(CJ)seventy of the elders of Israel ^(CK)went up, ¹⁰ and they ^(CL)saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of ^(CM)sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. ¹¹ And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ^(CN)ate and drank.

¹² The Lord said to Moses, ^(CO)“Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the ^(CP)tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” ¹³ So Moses rose with his assistant ^(CQ)Joshua, and Moses went up ^(CR)into the mountain of God. ¹⁴ And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and ^(CS)Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”

¹⁵ Then Moses went up on the mountain, and ^(CT)the cloud covered the mountain. ^16 (CU)The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷ Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a ^(CV)devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses ^(CW)was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

The Conversion of Saul

9 But Saul, ^(A)still ^(B)breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to ^(C)the high priest ² and asked him for letters ^(D)to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to ^(E)the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ^3 (F)Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. ⁴ And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting ^(G)me?” ⁵ And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, ^(H)whom you are persecuting. ⁶ But ^(I)rise and enter the city, and you will be told ^(J)what you are to do.” ^7 (K)The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, ^(L)hearing the voice but seeing no one. ⁸ Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, ^(M)he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹ And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰ Now there was a disciple at Damascus named ^(N)Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, ^(O)“Here I am, Lord.” ¹¹ And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man ^(P)of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, ¹² and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and ^(Q)lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” ¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, ^(R)how much evil he has done to ^(S)your ^(T)saints at Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And here he has authority from ^(U)the chief priests to bind all who ^(V)call on your name.” ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for ^(W)he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name ^(X)before the Gentiles and ^(Y)kings and the children of Israel. ¹⁶ For ^(Z)I will show him how much ^(AA)he must suffer ^(AB)for the sake of my name.” ¹⁷ So ^(AC)Ananias departed and entered the house. And ^(AD)laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and ^(AE)be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and ^(AF)he regained his sight. Then ^(AG)he rose and was baptized; ¹⁹ and ^(AH)taking food, he was strengthened.

Saul Proclaims Jesus in Synagogues

For ^(AI)some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. ²⁰ And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ^(AJ)“He is the Son of God.” ²¹ And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who ^(AK)made havoc ^(AL)in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” ²² But Saul ^(AM)increased all the more in strength, and ^(AN)confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving ^(AO)that Jesus was the Christ.

Saul Escapes from Damascus

^23 (AP)When many days had passed, the Jews^[a] plotted to kill him, ²⁴ but their ^(AQ)plot became known to Saul. ^(AR)They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, ²⁵ but his disciples took him by night and ^(AS)let him down through an opening in the wall,^[b] lowering him in a basket.

Saul in Jerusalem

²⁶ And ^(AT)when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. ²⁷ But ^(AU)Barnabas took him and ^(AV)brought him to the apostles and declared to them ^(AW)how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and ^(AX)how at Damascus he had ^(AY)preached boldly in the name of Jesus. ²⁸ So he went ^(AZ)in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ And he spoke and disputed against ^(BA)the Hellenists.^[c] But ^(BB)they were seeking to kill him. ³⁰ And when ^(BC)the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off ^(BD)to Tarsus.

³¹ So ^(BE)the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And ^(BF)walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, ^(BG)it multiplied.

The Healing of Aeneas

³² Now ^(BH)as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. ³³ There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. ³⁴ And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, ^(BI)Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. ^35 (BJ)And all the residents of Lydda and ^(BK)Sharon saw him, and ^(BL)they turned to the Lord.

Dorcas Restored to Life

³⁶ Now there was in ^(BM)Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas.^[d] She was full of ^(BN)good works and acts of charity. ³⁷ In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in ^(BO)an upper room. ³⁸ Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, ^(BP)“Please come to us without delay.” ³⁹ So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to ^(BQ)the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics^[e] and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. ⁴⁰ But Peter ^(BR)put them all outside, and ^(BS)knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body ^(BT)he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. ⁴¹ And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. ⁴² And it became known throughout all Joppa, and ^(BU)many believed in the Lord. ⁴³ And he stayed in Joppa for many days ^(BV)with one Simon, a tanner.