Taste and See That the Lord Is Good

^[a] Of David, when he ^(A)changed his behavior before ^(B)Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

Blessings for Obedience

28 “And ^(A)if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you ^(B)high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(C)overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. ³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and ^(D)blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴ Blessed shall be ^(E)the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵ Blessed shall be your basket and your ^(F)kneading bowl. ⁶ Blessed shall you be ^(G)when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord ^(H)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸ The Lord ^(I)will command the blessing on you in your barns and ^(J)in all that you undertake. ^(K)And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ^9 (L)The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ And ^(M)all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(N)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(O)afraid of you. ¹¹ And ^(P)the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in ^(Q)the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, ^(R)to give the rain to your land in its season and ^(S)to bless all the work of your hands. And ^(T)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make you ^(U)the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ^14 (V)and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ “But ^(W)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and ^(X)overtake you. ¹⁶ Cursed shall you be ^(Y)in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰ “The Lord ^(Z)will send on you curses, confusion, and ^(AA)frustration in all that you undertake to do, ^(AB)until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. ²¹ The Lord will make ^(AC)the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ^22 (AD)The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought^[a] and with ^(AE)blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And ^(AF)the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

^25 (AG)“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you ^(AH)shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And ^(AI)your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and ^(AJ)there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you ^(AK)with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and ^(AL)scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with ^(AM)madness and blindness and confusion of mind, ²⁹ and you shall ^(AN)grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways.^[b] And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. ^30 (AO)You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. ^(AP)You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. ^(AQ)You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. ^32 (AR)Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, ^(AS)but you shall be helpless. ³³ A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, ³⁴ so that you are driven mad ^(AT)by the sights that your eyes see. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs ^(AU)with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia

¹³ Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And ^(A)John left them and returned ^(B)to Jerusalem, ¹⁴ but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And ^(C)on the Sabbath day ^(D)they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ After ^(E)the reading from ^(F)the Law and the Prophets, ^(G)the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any ^(H)word of encouragement for the people, say it.” ¹⁶ So Paul stood up, and ^(I)motioning with his hand said:

“Men of Israel and ^(J)you who fear God, listen. ^17 (K)The God of this people Israel ^(L)chose our fathers and ^(M)made the people great ^(N)during their stay in the land of Egypt, and ^(O)with uplifted arm he led them out of it. ¹⁸ And for about ^(P)forty years ^(Q)he put up with^[a] them in the wilderness. ¹⁹ And ^(R)after destroying ^(S)seven nations in the land of Canaan, ^(T)he gave them their land as an inheritance. ²⁰ All this took about 450 years. And after that ^(U)he gave them judges until ^(V)Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then ^(W)they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul ^(X)the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²² And ^(Y)when he had removed him, ^(Z)he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ^(AA)‘I have found in David the son of Jesse ^(AB)a man after my heart, ^(AC)who will do all my will.’ ^23 (AD)Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel ^(AE)a Savior, Jesus, ^(AF)as he promised. ²⁴ Before his coming, ^(AG)John had proclaimed ^(AH)a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ And as John was finishing his course, ^(AI)he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶ “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you ^(AJ)who fear God, to us has been sent ^(AK)the message of ^(AL)this salvation. ²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because ^(AM)they did not recognize him nor understand ^(AN)the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, ^(AO)fulfilled them by condemning him. ²⁸ And ^(AP)though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, ^(AQ)they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹ And when ^(AR)they had carried out all that was written of him, ^(AS)they took him down from ^(AT)the tree and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰ But ^(AU)God raised him from the dead, ³¹ and for many days ^(AV)he appeared to those ^(AW)who had come up with him ^(AX)from Galilee to Jerusalem, ^(AY)who are now ^(AZ)his witnesses to the people. ³² And we bring you the good news ^(BA)that what God promised to the fathers, ^33 (BB)this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,

³⁴ And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, ^(BD)(BE)no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

³⁵ Therefore he says also in another psalm,

³⁶ For David, after he had ^(BH)served the purpose of God in his own generation, ^(BI)fell asleep and ^(BJ)was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, ³⁷ but he whom ^(BK)God raised up did not see corruption. ³⁸ Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, ^(BL)that through this man ^(BM)forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹ and by him ^(BN)everyone who believes is freed^[b] from everything ^(BO)from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

⁴² As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. ⁴³ And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and ^(BQ)devout ^(BR)converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them ^(BS)to continue in ^(BT)the grace of God.

⁴⁴ The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. ^45 (BU)But ^(BV)when the Jews^[c] saw the crowds, they were filled with ^(BW)jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, ^(BX)reviling him. ⁴⁶ And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God ^(BY)be spoken first to you. ^(BZ)Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves ^(CA)unworthy of eternal life, behold, we ^(CB)are turning to the Gentiles. ^47 (CC)For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

⁴⁸ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and ^(CG)glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. ^50 (CH)But the Jews incited the devout ^(CI)women of high standing and the leading men of the city, ^(CJ)stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and ^(CK)drove them out of their district. ⁵¹ But they ^(CL)shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. ⁵² And the disciples were filled ^(CM)with joy and ^(CN)with the Holy Spirit.