The Lord Reigns

Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord

A Psalm.

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

14 Then certain of the ^(A)elders of Israel came to me ^(B)and sat before me. ² And the word of the Lord came to me: ^3 (C)“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set ^(D)the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. ^(E)Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, ^(F)I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, ^5 (G)that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, ^(H)who are all estranged from me through their idols.

⁶ “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: ^(I)Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. ⁷ For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, ^(J)who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, ^(K)I the Lord will answer him myself. ⁸ And ^(L)I will set my face against that man; I ^(M)will make him a sign and a byword ^(N)and cut him off from the midst of my people, ^(O)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁹ And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, ^(P)I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. ¹⁰ And they shall bear their punishment^[a]—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike— ¹¹ that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor ^(Q)defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, ^(R)but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God.”

Jerusalem Will Not Be Spared

¹² And the word of the Lord came to me: ^13 (S)“Son of man, when a land sins against me ^(T)by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and ^(U)break its supply^[b] of bread and send famine upon it, and ^(V)cut off from it man and beast, ^14 (W)even if these three men, ^(X)Noah, ^(Y)Daniel, and ^(Z)Job, were in it, ^(AA)they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.

^15 (AB)“If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, ^(AC)and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ even if these three men were in it, ^(AD)as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but ^(AE)the land would be desolate.

¹⁷ “Or ^(AF)if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, ^(AG)and I cut off from it man and beast, ^18 (AH)though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.

¹⁹ “Or ^(AI)if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, ²⁰ even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.

²¹ “For thus says the Lord God: How much more ^(AJ)when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, ^(AK)sword, ^(AL)famine, ^(AM)wild beasts, and ^(AN)pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! ²² But behold, ^(AO)some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and ^(AP)you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. ²³ They will console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord God.”

James Killed and Peter Imprisoned

12 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. ² He killed ^(A)James the brother of John ^(B)with the sword, ³ and when he saw ^(C)that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during ^(D)the days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ And when he had seized him, he put him ^(E)in prison, delivering him over to four ^(F)squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. ⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest ^(G)prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Peter Is Rescued

⁶ Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, ^(H)bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. ⁷ And behold, ^(I)an angel of the Lord ^(J)stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. ^(K)He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And ^(L)the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and ^(M)put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹ And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but ^(N)thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. ^(O)It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. ¹¹ When Peter ^(P)came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that ^(Q)the Lord has sent his angel and ^(R)rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹² When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of ^(S)John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and ^(T)were praying. ¹³ And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, ^(U)a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ Recognizing Peter's voice, ^(V)in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is ^(W)his angel!” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ But ^(X)motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to ^(Y)James and to ^(Z)the brothers.”^[a] Then he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸ Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ^(AA)ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

The Death of Herod

²⁰ Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and ^(AB)having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain,^[b] they asked for peace, because ^(AC)their country depended on the king's country for food. ²¹ On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. ²² And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” ²³ Immediately ^(AD)an angel of the Lord struck him down, because ^(AE)he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

²⁴ But ^(AF)the word of God increased and multiplied.