Leviticus 5 - 6, Acts 1 - 2, Psalm 77

5‘Now if a person sins after he hears a ¹public ^aoath to testify when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his ²guilt. ²‘Or a person who touches ^aany unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean cattle or a carcass of unclean swarming things—though it is hidden from him, yet he is unclean—will be guilty. ³‘Or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort his uncleanness may be with which he becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty. ⁴‘Or if a person ^aswears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with a sworn oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty in one of these. ⁵‘So it shall be, when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall ^aconfess that in which he has sinned. ⁶‘He shall also bring his guilt offering to Yahweh for his sin which he has ¹committed, ^aa female from the flock, a lamb or a ²goat, as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin.

⁷‘But if ¹he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to Yahweh his guilt offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, ^aone for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. ⁸‘And he shall bring them to the priest, who shall bring near first that which is for the sin offering and shall nip its head at the front of its neck, but he ^ashall not separate it. ⁹‘He shall also sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering ^aon the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out ^bat the base of the altar: it is a sin offering. ¹⁰‘The second he shall then prepare as a burnt offering ^aaccording to the legal judgment. ^bSo the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has ¹committed, and it will be forgiven him.

¹¹‘But ^aif his ¹means are insufficient for two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then for his offering for that which he has sinned, he shall bring the tenth of an ²ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; ^bhe shall not place oil on it or put frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. ¹²‘He shall then bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as its memorial portion and offer it up in smoke on the altar, ¹with the offerings of Yahweh by fire: it is a sin offering. ¹³‘So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he has ¹committed from ^aone of these, and it will be forgiven him; then ^bthe rest shall become the priest’s, like the grain offering.’”

The Statutes of Guilt Offerings

¹⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁵“^aIf a person acts unfaithfully and sins ^bunintentionally against the holy things of Yahweh, then he shall bring his ^cguilt offering to Yahweh: ^da ram without blemish from the flock, according to your valuation in silver by ¹shekels, in terms of the ^eshekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. ¹⁶“^aAnd he shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and he shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. ^bThe priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him.

¹⁷“Now if a person sins and does any one of the things ¹which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, ^abut he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. ¹⁸“He is then to bring to the priest ^aa ram without blemish from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his error in which he sinned ^bunintentionally and did not know it, and it will be forgiven him. ¹⁹“It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before Yahweh.”

6¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“^aIf a person sins and acts unfaithfully against Yahweh and deals falsely with his companion in regard to a deposit or a security entrusted to him or through robbery, or if he has extorted from his companion, ³or ^ahas found what was lost and dealt falsely about it and sworn falsely, so that he sins in regard to any one of the things a man may do; ⁴then it shall be, when he sins and becomes guilty, that he shall ^areturn what he took by robbery or what he got by extortion, or the deposit which was ¹entrusted to him or the lost thing which he found, ⁵or anything about which he swore falsely; ^ahe shall make restitution for it ¹in full and add to it one-fifth more. ^bHe shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering. ⁶“Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to Yahweh, ^aa ram without blemish from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering, ⁷and ^athe priest shall make atonement for him before Yahweh, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.”

Statutes for the Priest in the Offerings

⁸¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁹“Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is ^athe law for the burnt offering: the burnt offering itself shall remain on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and ^bthe fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. ¹⁰‘And the priest shall put on ^ahis linen robe, and he shall put on undergarments next to his flesh; and he shall raise up the ¹ashes to which the fire ²reduces the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar. ¹¹‘Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ¹ashes outside the camp to a clean place. ¹²‘And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out, but the priest shall burn wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it and offer up in smoke the fat portions of the peace offerings ^aon it. ¹³‘Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it shall not go out.

¹⁴‘Now this is the law of the grain offering: the sons of Aaron shall bring it near before Yahweh in front of the altar. ¹⁵‘^aThen one of them shall raise up from it a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering, ¹with its oil and all the frankincense that is on the grain offering, and he shall offer it up in smoke on the altar, a soothing aroma, as its memorial offering to Yahweh. ¹⁶‘^aWhat is left of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten as unleavened cakes in a holy place; they shall eat it in the court of the tent of meeting. ¹⁷‘^aIt shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their share from My offerings by fire; ^bit is most holy, like the sin offering and ^cthe guilt offering. ¹⁸‘^aEvery male among the sons of Aaron may eat it; it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations, from the offerings by fire to Yahweh. ^bWhoever touches them will be set apart as holy.’”

¹⁹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁰“This is the offering which Aaron and his sons shall bring near to Yahweh on the day when he is anointed; the ¹tenth of an ^aephah of fine flour as ^ba ²regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. ²¹“It shall be prepared with oil on a ^agriddle. When it is well stirred, you shall bring it. You shall bring near the grain offering in baked pieces as a soothing aroma to Yahweh. ²²“And the anointed priest, who will be in his place ¹among his sons, shall ²offer it. By a perpetual statute it shall be entirely offered up in smoke to Yahweh. ²³“So every grain offering of the priest shall be burned entirely. It shall not be eaten.”

²⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁵“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the sin offering: ^ain the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering shall be slaughtered before Yahweh; it is most holy. ²⁶‘^aThe priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the court of the tent of meeting. ²⁷‘^aAnyone who touches its flesh will be set apart as holy; and when any of its blood sprinkles on a garment, in a holy place you shall wash what was sprinkled on. ²⁸‘Also ^athe earthenware vessel in which it was boiled shall be broken; and if it was boiled in a bronze vessel, then it shall be scoured and rinsed in water. ²⁹‘^aAnd every male among the priests may eat of it; ^bit is most holy. ³⁰‘But no sin offering, ^aof which any of the blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement ^bin the holy place, shall be eaten; ^cit shall be burned with fire.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

1The first account, O ^aTheophilus, I ¹composed, about all that Jesus ^bbegan to do and teach, ²until the day when He ^awas taken up to heaven, after He ^bhad ¹by the Holy Spirit given orders to ^cthe apostles whom He had ^dchosen, ³to whom ^aHe also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over forty days and speaking about ^bthe things concerning the kingdom of God. ⁴And ¹gathering them together, He commanded them ^anot to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the ^bpromise of the Father, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; ⁵for ¹^,^aJohn baptized with water, but you will be baptized ²with the Holy Spirit ³^,^bnot many days from now.”

⁶So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, ^ais it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷But He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which ^athe Father has set by His own authority; ⁸but you will receive power ^awhen the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be ^bMy witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and ^cSamaria, and even to ¹^,^dthe end of the earth.”

The Ascension

⁹And after He had said these things, ^aHe was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. ¹⁰And as they were gazing intently into ¹the sky while He was going, behold, ^atwo men in white clothing stood beside them. ¹¹They also said, “^aMen of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who ^bhas been taken up from you into heaven, will ^ccome in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

¹²Then they ^areturned to Jerusalem from the ¹^,^bmount called ²Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a ³Sabbath day’s journey away. ¹³And when they had entered the city, they went up to ^athe upper room where they were staying; ^bthat is, Peter and John and ¹James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and ^cJudas the ²son of James. ¹⁴These all with one accord ^awere continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with ^bthe women, and Mary the ^cmother of Jesus, and His ^dbrothers.

¹⁵And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of ^athe brothers (a crowd of about 120 ¹persons was there together), and said, ¹⁶“Men, brothers, ^athe Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, ^bwho became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷“For he was ^acounted among us and received his share in ^bthis ministry.” ¹⁸(Now this man ^aacquired a field with ^bthe price of his unrighteousness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. ¹⁹And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in ^atheir own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘^aLet his residence be made desolate,And let no one dwell in it’; and,‘^bLet another man take his ¹office.’

²¹“Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that ^athe Lord Jesus went in and out ¹among us— ²²^abeginning ¹with the baptism of John until the day that He ^bwas taken up from us—one of these must become a ^cwitness with us of His resurrection.” ²³And they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and ^aMatthias. ²⁴And they ^aprayed and said, “You, Lord, ^bwho know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen ²⁵to take the place of ^athis ministry and ^bapostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶And they ¹^,^acast lots for them, and the lot fell ²to ^bMatthias; and he was ³added to ^cthe eleven apostles.

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

2And when ^athe day of Pentecost ¹had fully come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing ^awind, and it filled ^bthe whole house where they were sitting. ³And there appeared to them tongues like fire ¹^,^adistributing themselves, and ²they ³rested on each one of them. ⁴And they were all ^afilled with the Holy Spirit and began to ^bspeak with other ¹tongues, as the Spirit was giving them ²utterance.

⁵Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, ^adevout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶And when ^athis sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own ¹language. ⁷^aSo they were astounded and marveling, saying, “Behold, are not all these who are speaking ^bGalileans? ⁸“And how is it that we each hear them in our own ¹language in which we were born? ⁹“Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and ^aCappadocia, ^bPontus and ¹^,^cAsia, ¹⁰^aPhrygia and ^bPamphylia, Egypt and the district of Libya around ^cCyrene, and ¹^,^dvisitors from Rome, both Jews and ²^,^eproselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” ¹²And ^athey all continued in astonishment and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others, mocking, were saying, “^aThey are full of new wine.”

Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost

¹⁴But Peter, ¹taking his stand with ^athe eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. ¹⁵“For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, ^afor it is the ¹third hour of the day; ¹⁶but this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷‘^aAnd it shall be in the last days,’ God says,‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all ¹mankind;And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,And your young men shall see visions,And your old men shall dream dreams;¹⁸Even on My male slaves and female slaves,I will in those days pour out My SpiritAnd they shall prophesy.¹⁹‘And I will put wonders in the sky aboveAnd signs on the earth below,Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.²⁰‘The sun will be turned into darknessAnd the moon into blood,Before the great and awesome day of the ¹Lord comes.²¹‘And it will be that ^aeveryone who calls on the name of the ¹Lord will be saved.’

²²“Men of Israel, listen to these words: ^aJesus the Nazarene, ^ba man ¹attested to you by God with ²miracles and ^cwonders and ³signs which God did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³this Man, delivered over by the ^apredetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, ^byou nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death. ²⁴“¹But ^aGod raised Him up again, putting an end to the ²agony of death, since it ^bwas impossible for Him to be held ³in its power. ²⁵“For David says of Him, ‘^aI saw the ¹Lord continually before me;Because He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.

²⁶‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted;Moreover my flesh also will live in hope;²⁷Because You will not forsake my soul to ^aHades,^bNor give Your ¹Holy One over to see corruption.²⁸‘You have made known to me the ways of life;You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’

²⁹“Men, brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the ^apatriarch David that he both ^bdied and ^cwas buried, and ^dhis tomb is ¹with us to this day. ³⁰“And so, because he was ^aa prophet and knew that ^bGod had sworn to him with an oath to set one of the fruit ¹of his body on his throne, ³¹he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the ¹Christ, that ^aHe was neither forsaken to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. ³²“This Jesus ^aGod raised up again, to which we are all ^bwitnesses. ³³“Therefore having been exalted ¹^,^ato the right hand of God, and ^bhaving received from the Father ^cthe promise of the Holy Spirit, He has ^dpoured out this which you both see and hear. ³⁴“For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says: ‘^aThe ¹Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand,

³⁵Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”’

³⁶“Therefore let all the ^ahouse of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both ^bLord and ¹Christ—this Jesus ^cwhom you crucified.”

About Three Thousand Souls Saved

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were ¹pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men, brothers, ^awhat should we do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “^aRepent, and each of you be ^bbaptized in the name of Jesus Christ ¹for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹“For ^athe promise is for you and your children and for all who are ^bfar off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰And with many other words he solemnly ^abore witness and kept on exhorting them, saying, “¹Be saved from this ^bcrooked generation!” ⁴¹So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand ^asouls. ⁴²And they were ^acontinually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to ^bthe breaking of bread and ^cto the prayers.

⁴³And fear came upon every soul; and many ^awonders and ¹signs were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all those who had believed ¹were together and ^ahad all things in common; ⁴⁵and they ^abegan selling their property and possessions and were ^bdividing them up with all, as anyone might have need. ⁴⁶^aAnd daily devoting themselves with one accord in the temple and ^bbreaking bread ¹from house to house, they were taking their ²meals together with gladness and ³sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷praising God and ^ahaving favor with all the people. And the Lord ^bwas adding ¹to their number daily ^cthose who were being saved.

In My Distress I Sought the Lord

For the choir director. According to ¹Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.

My voice rises to God, and I must ^acry aloud;My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.²In the ^aday of my distress I sought the Lord;^bIn the night my ^chand was stretched out ¹without weariness;My soul ^drefused to be comforted.³I remember God and I am ^adisturbed;I ^bmuse and ^cmy spirit faints. ¹ Selah.⁴You have held my eyelids open;I am so troubled that I ^acannot speak.⁵I give thought to the ^adays of old,The years of long ago.⁶I remember my ^amusic in the night;I ^bam musing with my heart,And my spirit is searching:⁷Will the Lord ^areject evermore?And will He ^bnot be favorable again?⁸Has His ^alovingkindness ceased forever?Has His ¹^,^bword ended ²from generation to generation?⁹Has God ^aforgotten to be gracious,Or has He in anger shut up His ^bcompassion? Selah.¹⁰Then I said, “^aIt is my ¹grief,That the ^bright hand of the Most High has changed.”¹¹I shall remember the ^adeeds of Yah;Surely I will ^bremember Your wonders of old.¹²I will ^ameditate on all Your workAnd muse on Your deeds.¹³O God, Your way is ^aholy;^bWhat god is great like God?¹⁴You are the ^aGod who works wonders;You have ^bmade known Your strength among the peoples.¹⁵You have by Your arm ^aredeemed Your people,The sons of Jacob and ^bJoseph. Selah.¹⁶The ^awaters saw You, O God;The waters saw You, they were in anguish;The deeps also trembled.¹⁷The ^aclouds poured out water;The skies ^bgave forth a sound;Your ^carrows went here and there.¹⁸The ^asound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;The ^blightnings lit up the world;The ^cearth trembled and shook.¹⁹Your ^away was in the seaAnd Your paths in the mighty waters,But Your footprints were not known.²⁰You ^aled Your people like a flockBy the hand of ^bMoses and Aaron.