Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

Blessed Is the One Who Finds Wisdom

The Lord Is Holy

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, ^(A)You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. ^3 (B)Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and ^(C)you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. ^4 (D)Do not turn to idols ^(E)or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

^5 (F)“When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so ^(G)that you may be accepted. ⁶ It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. ⁷ If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is ^(H)tainted; it will not be accepted, ⁸ and everyone who eats it shall ^(I)bear his iniquity, because ^(J)he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

^9 (K)“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. ¹⁰ And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

^11 (L)“You shall not steal; ^(M)you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. ^12 (N)You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so ^(O)profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

^13 (P)“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. ^(Q)The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. ^14 (R)You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall ^(S)fear your God: I am the Lord.

^15 (T)“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. ^16 (U)You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not ^(V)stand up against the life^[a] of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

^17 (W)“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but ^(X)you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you ^(Y)incur sin because of him. ^18 (Z)You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but ^(AA)you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

You Shall Keep My Statutes

^19 (AB)“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. ^(AC)You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

²⁰ “If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; ²¹ but ^(AD)he shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. ²² And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

²³ “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden.^[b] Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. ²⁴ And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. ²⁵ But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.

^26 (AE)“You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. ^(AF)You shall not interpret omens or ^(AG)tell fortunes. ^27 (AH)You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. ²⁸ You shall not make any ^(AI)cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

^29 (AJ)“Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. ^30 (AK)You shall keep my Sabbaths and ^(AL)reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

^31 (AM)“Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

^32 (AN)“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall ^(AO)fear your God: I am the Lord.

^33 (AP)“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. ^34 (AQ)You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and ^(AR)you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

^35 (AS)“You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. ^36 (AT)You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin:^[c] I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷ And ^(AU)you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.”

Punishment for Child Sacrifice

20 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Say to the people of Israel, ^(AV)Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. ^3 (AW)I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary ^(AX)unclean and ^(AY)to profane my holy name. ⁴ And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not ^(AZ)put him to death, ⁵ then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in ^(BA)whoring after Molech.

⁶ “If ^(BB)a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, ^(BC)I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. ^7 (BD)Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ^8 (BE)Keep my statutes and do them; ^(BF)I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ⁹ For ^(BG)anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; ^(BH)his blood is upon him.

Punishments for Sexual Immorality

¹⁰ “If a ^(BI)man commits adultery with the wife of^[d] his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. ^11 (BJ)If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. ^12 (BK)If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed ^(BL)perversion; their blood is upon them. ^13 (BM)If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. ^14 (BN)If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. ^15 (BO)If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. ^16 (BP)If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

^17 (BQ)“If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. ^18 (BR)If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. ^19 (BS)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or of your father's sister, for that is to make naked ^(BT)one's relative; they shall bear their iniquity. ^20 (BU)If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. ^21 (BV)If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity.^[e] He has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.

You Shall Be Holy

^22 (BW)“You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not ^(BX)vomit you out. ^23 (BY)And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. ²⁴ But ^(BZ)I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land ^(CA)flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, ^(CB)who has separated you from the peoples. ^25 (CC)You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. ^26 (CD)You shall be holy to me, ^(CE)for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

^27 (CF)“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be ^(CG)stoned with stones; ^(CH)their blood shall be upon them.”

23 And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, ^(A)I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” ² And the high priest ^(B)Ananias commanded those who stood by him ^(C)to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you ^(D)whitewashed ^(E)wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet ^(F)contrary to the law you ^(G)order me to be struck?” ⁴ Those who stood by said, “Would you revile ^(H)God's high priest?” ⁵ And Paul said, ^(I)“I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ^(J)‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶ Now when Paul perceived that one part were ^(K)Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, ^(L)I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is ^(M)with respect to the ^(N)hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” ⁷ And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ For the Sadducees ^(O)say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. ⁹ Then a great clamor arose, and some of ^(P)the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended sharply, ^(Q)“We find nothing wrong in this man. What ^(R)if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” ¹⁰ And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into ^(S)the barracks.

^11 (T)The following night ^(U)the Lord stood by him and said, ^(V)“Take courage, for ^(W)as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must ^(X)testify also in Rome.”

A Plot to Kill Paul

¹² When it was day, ^(Y)the Jews made a plot and ^(Z)bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. ¹³ There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. ¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

¹⁶ Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered ^(AA)the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷ Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” ¹⁸ So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul ^(AB)the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” ¹⁹ The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” ²⁰ And he said, ^(AC)“The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. ²¹ But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who ^(AD)have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” ²² So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”

Paul Sent to Felix the Governor

²³ Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.^{[a] 24} Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to ^(AE)Felix ^(AF)the governor.” ²⁵ And he wrote a letter to this effect:

²⁶ “Claudius Lysias, to ^(AG)his Excellency the governor Felix, ^(AH)greetings. ^27 (AI)This man was seized by the Jews and ^(AJ)was about to be killed by them ^(AK)when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, ^(AL)having learned that he was a Roman citizen. ²⁸ And ^(AM)desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. ²⁹ I found that he was being accused ^(AN)about questions of their law, but ^(AO)charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. ^30 (AP)And when it was disclosed to me ^(AQ)that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ^(AR)ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”

³¹ So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. ³² And on the next day they returned to ^(AS)the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him. ³³ When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. ³⁴ On reading the letter, he asked what ^(AT)province he was from. And when he learned ^(AU)that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, “I will give you a hearing ^(AV)when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's ^(AW)praetorium.