The Covenant Ceremony

24 Then he said to Moses, “Go up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders,^(A) and bow in worship at a distance. ² Moses alone is to approach the Lord, but the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him.”

³ Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”^{(B) 4} And Moses wrote^(C) down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. ⁵ Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the other half of the blood he splattered on the altar. ⁷ He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey all that the Lord has commanded.”

⁸ Moses took the blood, splattered it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.”^(D)

⁹ Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders, ¹⁰ and they saw^(E) the God of Israel. Beneath his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself.^{(F) 11} God did not harm^[a] the Israelite nobles; they saw^(G) him, and they ate and drank.

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets^(H) with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

¹³ So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua and went up the mountain of God.^{(I) 14} He told the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has a dispute should go to them.” ¹⁵ When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud^(J) covered it. ¹⁶ The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud.^{(K) 17} The appearance of the Lord’s glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire^(L) on the mountaintop. ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.^(M)

Paul Defends His Gospel at Jerusalem

2 Then after fourteen years I went up again^(A) to Jerusalem with Barnabas,^(B) taking Titus^(C) along also. ² I went up according to a revelation^(D) and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those recognized as leaders. I wanted to be sure I was not running, and had not been running, in vain. ³ But not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. ⁴ This matter arose because some false brothers^(E) had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us. ⁵ But we did not give up and submit to these people for even a moment, so that the truth^(F) of the gospel would be preserved for you.

⁶ Now from those recognized as important (what they^[a] once were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism^[b](G))—they added nothing to me. ⁷ On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised,^(H) just as Peter^(I) was for the circumcised, ⁸ since the one at work in Peter for an apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in me for the Gentiles. ⁹ When James,^(J) Cephas,^[c](K) and John^(L)—those recognized as pillars^(M)—acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ They asked only that we would remember the poor,^(N) which I had made every effort to do.

Freedom from the Law

¹¹ But when Cephas^[d] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.^{[e] 12} For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party. ¹³ Then the rest of the Jews^(O) joined his hypocrisy,^(P) so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas^[f] in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile^(Q) and not like a Jew,^(R) how can you compel Gentiles to live^(S) like Jews?” ^[g]

¹⁵ We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,” ¹⁶ and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law^(T) but by faith in Jesus Christ,^[h] even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ^[i] and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will^[j] be justified. ¹⁷ But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ,^(U) is Christ then a promoter^[k](V) of sin? Absolutely not!^{(W) 18} If I rebuild^(X) those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.^{(Y) 19} For through the law I died to the law,^(Z) so that I might live for God.^{(AA) 20} I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.^(AB) The life I now live in the body,^[l] I live by faith in the Son of God,^(AC) who loved^(AD) me^(AE) and gave himself^(AF) for me.^{(AG) 21} I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law,^(AH) then Christ died^(AI) for nothing.