The Guilt of the Gentile World

¹⁸ For God’s wrath^(A) is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,^{(B) 19} since what can be known^[a] about God is evident among them,^(C) because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world,^(D) being understood through what he has made.^(E) As a result, people are without excuse. ²¹ For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.^(F)

¹³ For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.^[a](A)

Israel’s Rejection of the Message

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him?^(B) And how can they hear without a preacher?^{(C) 15} And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful^[b] are the feet of those who bring good news.^[c](D)

The Creation

1 In the beginning^(A) God created the heavens and the earth.^[a](B)

² Now the earth was formless and empty,^(C) darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.^{(D) 3} Then God said, “Let there be light,”^(E) and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was an evening, and there was a morning: one day.

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.”^{(F) 7} So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse.^(G) And it was so.

² Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.^(A)

Occult Practices versus Prophetic Revelation

⁹ “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations.^{(A) 10} No one among you is to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire,^[a](B) practice divination, tell fortunes, interpret omens, practice sorcery, ¹¹ cast spells, consult a medium or a spiritist, or inquire of the dead.^{(C) 12} Everyone who does these acts is detestable to the Lord, and the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you because of these detestable acts. ¹³ You must be blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴ Though these nations you are about to drive out listen to fortune-tellers and diviners, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do this.

¹⁵ “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers.^(D) You must listen to him. ¹⁶ This is what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this great fire any longer, so that we will not die!’ ^{(E) 17} Then the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. ¹⁹ I will hold accountable whoever does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name.^(F)

³ Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”^{(A) 4} And Moses wrote^(B) down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. ⁵ Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the other half of the blood he splattered on the altar. ⁷ He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey all that the Lord has commanded.”

⁴⁴ He told them, “These are my words^(A) that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets,^(B) and the Psalms^(C) must be fulfilled.”