³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

⁵ having a form of godliness^(A) but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.^(B)

¹⁶ They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.^(A) They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.^(B)

¹⁹ if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ²¹ you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?^{(A) 22} You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?^{(B) 23} You who boast in the law,^(C) do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴ As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”^[a](D)

²⁹ Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!^(A)

Submission to Governing Authorities

13 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities,^(A) for there is no authority except that which God has established.^(B) The authorities that exist have been established by God.

¹² Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity^(A) of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the Lord.

³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

² “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”^(A)

³ Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’^[a](B) and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’^{[b](C) 5} But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ ⁶ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: