Blessings for Obedience

26 “You shall not make ^(A)idols for yourselves or erect an ^(B)image or ^(C)pillar, and you shall not set up a ^(D)figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. ^2 (E)You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

^3 (F)“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, ⁴ then ^(G)I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. ^5 (H)Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And ^(I)you shall eat your bread to the full and ^(J)dwell in your land securely. ^6 (K)I will give peace in the land, and ^(L)you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And ^(M)I will remove harmful beasts from the land, ^(N)and the sword shall not go through your land. ⁷ You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. ^8 (O)Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. ^9 (P)I will turn to you and ^(Q)make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. ¹⁰ You shall eat ^(R)old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. ^11 (S)I will make my dwelling^[a] among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. ^12 (T)And I ^(U)will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. ^13 (V)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. ^(W)And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Punishment for Disobedience

^14 (X)“But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, ¹⁵ if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but ^(Y)break my covenant, ¹⁶ then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with ^(Z)wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And ^(AA)you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. ¹⁷ I will ^(AB)set my face against you, and ^(AC)you shall be struck down before your enemies. ^(AD)Those who hate you shall rule over you, and ^(AE)you shall flee when none pursues you. ¹⁸ And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again ^(AF)sevenfold for your sins, ¹⁹ and I will break ^(AG)the pride of your power, and I ^(AH)will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. ²⁰ And ^(AI)your strength shall be spent in vain, for ^(AJ)your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.

^21 (AK)“Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. ²² And ^(AL)I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that ^(AM)your roads shall be deserted.

²³ “And ^(AN)if by this discipline you are not turned to me ^(AO)but walk contrary to me, ^24 (AP)then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins. ²⁵ And ^(AQ)I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, ^(AR)I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. ^26 (AS)When I break your supply^[b] of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and ^(AT)you shall eat and not be satisfied.

²⁷ “But ^(AU)if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, ²⁸ then I will walk contrary to you ^(AV)in fury, and I myself will discipline you ^(AW)sevenfold for your sins. ^29 (AX)You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. ³⁰ And ^(AY)I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and ^(AZ)cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. ³¹ And I will ^(BA)lay your cities waste and will ^(BB)make your sanctuaries desolate, and ^(BC)I will not smell your pleasing aromas. ³² And ^(BD)I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be ^(BE)appalled at it. ³³ And ^(BF)I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.

^34 (BG)“Then the land shall enjoy^[c] its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths. ³⁵ As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it. ³⁶ And as for those of you who are left, ^(BH)I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The ^(BI)sound of a ^(BJ)driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues. ³⁷ They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though none pursues. And ^(BK)you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. ³⁸ And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. ³⁹ And those of you who are left shall ^(BL)rot away in your enemies' lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.

⁴⁰ “But if ^(BM)they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they ^(BN)committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, ⁴¹ so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their ^(BO)uncircumcised heart is ^(BP)humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will ^(BQ)remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will ^(BR)remember the land. ⁴³ But ^(BS)the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. ⁴⁴ Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, ^(BT)I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and ^(BU)break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵ But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, ^(BV)whom I brought out of the land of Egypt ^(BW)in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.”

^46 (BX)These are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses ^(BY)on Mount Sinai.

¹⁵ For ^(A)you did not receive ^(B)the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of ^(C)adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ^(D)“Abba! Father!”

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man ^(A)and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name ^(A)humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

They Had Everything in Common

³² Now the full number of those who believed were of ^(A)one heart and ^(B)soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but ^(C)they had everything in common. ³³ And with great ^(D)power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and ^(E)great grace was upon them all. ^34 (F)There was not a needy person among them, for ^(G)as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold ³⁵ and ^(H)laid it at the apostles' feet, and ^(I)it was distributed to each as any had need. ³⁶ Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means ^(J)son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, ³⁷ sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and ^(K)laid it at the apostles' feet.

Ananias and Sapphira

5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, ² and with his wife's knowledge ^(L)he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and ^(M)laid it at the apostles' feet. ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has ^(N)Satan filled your heart to lie ^(O)to the Holy Spirit and ^(P)to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but ^(Q)to God.” ⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he ^(R)fell down and breathed his last. And ^(S)great fear came upon all who heard of it. ⁶ The young men rose and ^(T)wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

⁷ After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you^[a] sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” ⁹ But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together ^(U)to test ^(V)the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” ¹⁰ Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ And ^(W)great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

^27 (A)Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord ^(B)in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning ^(C)the body and blood of the Lord. ^28 (D)Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰ That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some ^(E)have died.^{[a] 31 (F)}But if we judged^[b] ourselves truly, we would not be judged. ³² But when we are judged by the Lord, ^(G)we are disciplined^[c] so that we may not be ^(H)condemned along with the world.

³³ So then, my brothers,^[d] when you come together to eat, wait for^[e] one another—

⁵ he saved us, ^(A)not because of works done by us in righteousness, but ^(B)according to his own mercy, by ^(C)the washing of regeneration and ^(D)renewal of the Holy Spirit,

¹⁹ For as by the one man's ^(A)disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's ^(B)obedience the many will be made righteous.

¹⁵ For ^(A)you did not receive ^(B)the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of ^(C)adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ^(D)“Abba! Father!” ^16 (E)The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then ^(F)heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, ^(G)provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.