Leviticus 19 - 20, Acts 13-14:7, Psalm 84

Yahweh Is Holy

19Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

²“Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘^aYou shall be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy. ³‘Every one of you ^ashall fear his mother and his father, and you shall keep ^bMy sabbaths; ^cI am Yahweh your God. ⁴‘Do not turn to ^aidols or make for yourselves molten ^bgods; I am Yahweh your God.

⁵‘Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. ⁶‘It shall be eaten the same day you offer it and the next day; but what remains until the third day shall be burned with fire. ⁷‘So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an offense; it will not be accepted. ⁸‘And everyone who eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned the holy thing of Yahweh; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Various Statutes

⁹‘^aNow when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰‘Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the afflicted and for the sojourner. I am Yahweh your God.

¹¹‘^aYou shall not steal, nor deal falsely, ^bnor lie to one another. ¹²‘^aAnd you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to ^bprofane the name of your God; I am Yahweh.

¹³‘^aYou shall not oppress your neighbor nor rob him. ^bThe wages of a hired man shall not remain with you overnight until morning. ¹⁴‘You shall not curse a deaf man nor ^aplace a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God; I am Yahweh.

¹⁵‘^aYou shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness. ¹⁶‘You shall not go about as ^aa slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand against the ¹^,^blife of your neighbor; I am Yahweh.

¹⁷‘You ^ashall not hate your brother in your heart; you ^bmay surely reprove your neighbor, and so not bear sin because of him. ¹⁸‘^aYou shall not take vengeance, ^band you shall not keep your anger against the sons of your people, but ^cyou shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.

¹⁹‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; ^ayou shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.

²⁰‘^aNow if a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave assigned to another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death because she was not free. ²¹‘And he shall bring his guilt offering to Yahweh to the doorway of the tent of meeting, ^aa ram for a guilt offering. ²²‘The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before Yahweh for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed will be forgiven him.

²³‘When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall designate their fruit as ¹forbidden. Three years it shall be ²forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten. ²⁴‘But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to Yahweh. ²⁵‘Now in the fifth year you shall eat of its fruit, that its produce may increase for you; I am Yahweh your God.

²⁶‘You shall not eat anything ^awith the blood nor interpret ^bomens or soothsaying. ²⁷‘^aYou shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard. ²⁸‘And you shall not make any cuts in your ¹body for the ²dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am Yahweh.

²⁹‘^aDo not ¹profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness. ³⁰‘You shall ^akeep My sabbaths and ^bfear My sanctuary; I am Yahweh.

³¹‘Do not turn to ¹^,^amediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God.

³²‘^aYou shall rise up before the gray-haired and honor the ¹aged, and you shall fear your God; I am Yahweh.

³³‘^aAnd when a sojourner sojourns with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. ³⁴‘The sojourner who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and ^ayou shall love him as yourself, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.

³⁵‘^aYou shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or in volume. ³⁶‘You shall have ¹^,^ajust balances, ²just weights, a ³just ⁴ephah, and a ⁵just ⁶hin; I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. ³⁷‘You shall thus keep all My statutes and all My judgments and do them; I am Yahweh.’”

Set Yourselves Apart as Holy

20Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“You shall also say to the sons of Israel: ‘Any man from the sons of Israel or from the sojourners sojourning in Israel ^awho gives any of his seed to Molech shall surely be put to death; ^bthe people of the land shall stone him with stones. ³‘I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people because he has given some of those who are his seed to Molech, ^aso as to defile My sanctuary and ^bto profane My holy name. ⁴‘If the people of the land, however, ¹should ever turn a blind eye to that man when he gives any of those who are his seed to Molech, so as not to put him to death, ⁵then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, in playing the harlot after Molech.

⁶‘As for the person who turns to ¹^,^amediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. ⁷‘Therefore, you shall set yourselves apart as holy and ^abe holy, for I am Yahweh your God. ⁸‘^aAnd you shall keep My statutes and do them; I am Yahweh who makes you holy.

⁹‘^aIf there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother. His bloodguiltiness is upon him.

¹⁰‘^aIf there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. ¹¹‘^aIf there is a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. ¹²‘^aIf there is a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed ¹perversion. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. ¹³‘^aIf there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. ¹⁴‘^aIf there is a man who ¹marries a woman and her mother, it is lewdness; both he and they shall be burned with fire so that there will be no lewdness in your midst. ¹⁵‘^aIf there is a man who lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; you shall also kill the animal. ¹⁶‘If there is a woman who approaches any animal to ¹mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

¹⁷‘^aIf there is a man who takes his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he bears his guilt. ¹⁸‘^aIf there is a man who lies with a ¹menstruous woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood; thus both of them shall be cut off from among their people. ¹⁹‘^aYou shall also not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for such a one has made naked his ¹blood relative; they will bear their guilt. ²⁰‘^aIf there is a man who lies with his aunt, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they will bear their sin. They will die childless. ²¹‘^aIf there is a man who takes his brother’s wife, it is an ¹impure act; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They will be childless.

²²‘You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to ¹inhabit will not ^avomit you out. ²³‘Moreover, you shall not walk in ^athe statutes of the nation which I will cast out before you, for they did all these things, and ^btherefore I have loathed them. ²⁴‘Hence I have said to you, “^aYou yourselves shall possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am Yahweh your God, who has ^bseparated you from the peoples. ²⁵‘^aYou are therefore to separate between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make ¹yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything ²that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean. ²⁶‘Thus you shall be holy to Me, for I Yahweh am holy; and I ^ahave separated you from the peoples to be Mine.

²⁷‘Now a man or a woman ^awho is a medium or a ¹spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.’”

Barnabas and Saul Sent from Antioch by the Holy Spirit

13Now there were at ^aAntioch, in the ^bchurch that was there, ^cprophets and ^dteachers: ^eBarnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of ^fCyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ²And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, ^athe Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me ^bBarnabas and Saul for ^cthe work to which I have called them.” ³Then, when they had fasted and ^aprayed and ^blaid their hands on them, ^cthey sent them away.

On Cyprus

⁴So, being ^asent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to ^bCyprus. ⁵And when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in ^athe synagogues of the Jews, and they also had ^bJohn as their helper. ⁶And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a ^amagician, a Jewish ^bfalse prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷who was with the ^aproconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸But Elymas the ^amagician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the ^bproconsul away from ^cthe faith. ⁹But Saul, who was also known as Paul, ¹^,^afilled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, ¹⁰and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you ^ason of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked ^bthe straight ways of the ¹Lord? ¹¹“Now, behold, ^athe hand of the ¹Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. ¹²Then the ^aproconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being astonished at ^bthe teaching of the Lord.

In Pisidian Antioch

¹³Now after Paul and his companions set sail from ^aPaphos, they came to ^bPerga in ^cPamphylia, but ^dJohn left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴But going on from Perga, they arrived at ^aPisidian ^bAntioch. And on ^cthe Sabbath day, they went into ^dthe synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵And after ^athe reading of the Law and ^bthe Prophets ^cthe synagogue officials sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” ¹⁶So Paul stood up, and ^amotioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and ^byou who fear God, listen: ¹⁷“The God of this people Israel ^achose our fathers and ¹^,^blifted up the people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm ^cHe led them out from it. ¹⁸“And for ^aa period of about forty years ^bHe put up with them in the wilderness. ¹⁹“^aAnd when He destroyed ^bseven nations in the land of Canaan, He ^cdistributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took ^dabout 450 years. ²⁰“After these things He ^agave them judges until ^bSamuel the prophet. ²¹“Then they ^aasked for a king, and God gave them ^bSaul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²²“And after He had ^aremoved him, He raised up David to be their king, about whom He also said, bearing witness, ‘^bI have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My ¹will.’ ²³“^aFrom the seed of this man, ^baccording to promise, God has brought to Israel ^ca Savior, Jesus, ²⁴after ^aJohn had preached before ¹His coming a ^bbaptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵“And as John ^awas fulfilling his course, ^bhe kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me of whom I am not worthy to untie the sandals of His feet.’

²⁶“Brothers, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the word of ^athis salvation was sent. ²⁷“For those who live in Jerusalem, and their ^arulers, ^brecognizing neither Him nor the ¹utterances of ^cthe prophets which are ^dread every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning Him. ²⁸“And though they found no ground for death, they ^aasked Pilate that He be ¹executed. ²⁹“And when they had ^afinished all that was written concerning Him, ^bthey took Him down from ^cthe tree and ^dlaid Him in a tomb. ³⁰“But God ^araised Him from the dead; ³¹and for many days ^aHe appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now ^bHis witnesses to the people. ³²“And we ^aproclaim to you the good news of ^bthe promise made to the fathers, ³³that God has fulfilled this promise ¹to our children in that He ^araised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘^bYou are My Son; today I have begotten You.’ ³⁴“But that He ^araised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to corruption, He has spoken in this way: ‘^bI will give you the holy and ¹faithful lovingkindnesses of David.’ ³⁵“Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘^aYou will not give Your ¹Holy One over to see corruption.’ ³⁶“For ^aDavid, after he had ¹served ^bthe purpose of God in his own generation, ^cfell asleep and was laid among his fathers and saw corruption; ³⁷but He whom God ^araised did not see corruption. ³⁸“Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that ^athrough ¹Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹and that in Him, ^aeveryone who believes is justified from all things which you could not be justified from ¹through the Law of Moses. ⁴⁰“Therefore watch out, so that the thing spoken of ^ain the Prophets may not come upon you:

⁴¹‘^aLook, you scoffers, and marvel, and ¹perish;For I am accomplishing a work in your days,A work which you will never believe, though someone should recount it to you.’”

⁴²And as ¹Paul and Barnabas were leaving, the people kept pleading that these words might be spoken to them the next ^aSabbath. ⁴³Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the ^aGod-fearing ¹^,^bproselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in ^cthe grace of God.

Many Gentiles Believe

⁴⁴And the next ^aSabbath, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of ¹the ²Lord. ⁴⁵But when ^athe Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, ¹blaspheming. ⁴⁶Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you ^afirst. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, ^bwe are turning to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷“For so the ¹Lord has commanded us, ‘^aI have placed You as a ^blight for the Gentiles,That You may ²bring salvation to the end of the earth.’”

⁴⁸And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying ^athe word of ¹the ²Lord, and as many as ^bhad been appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹And ^athe word of the ¹Lord was being spread through the whole region. ⁵⁰But ^athe Jews incited the ¹^,^bGod-fearing women ^cof prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their ²district. ⁵¹But ^ahaving shaken off the dust of their feet against them, they went to ^bIconium. ⁵²And the disciples were continually ^afilled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

In Iconium

14Now it happened that in ^aIconium ^bthey entered the synagogue of the Jews together and spoke in such a manner ^cthat a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of ^dGreeks. ²But ^athe ¹^,^bunbelieving Jews instigated and embittered the ²minds of the Gentiles against ^cthe brothers. ³Therefore they spent a long time there ^aspeaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that ¹^,^bsigns and wonders be done through their hands. ⁴^aBut the multitude of the city was divided; and some ¹sided with ^bthe Jews, and some with ^cthe apostles. ⁵And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and ^athe Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to ^bstone them, ⁶they became aware of it and fled to the cities of ^aLycaonia, ^bLystra and ^cDerbe, and the surrounding region; ⁷and there they continued to ^aproclaim the gospel.

Blessed Is the Man Who Trusts in You

For the choir director. According to the ¹Gittith. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm.

How lovely are Your ^adwelling places,O Yahweh of hosts!²My ^asoul has longed and even ¹fainted for the courts of Yahweh;My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the ^bliving God.³Even the bird has found a home,And the swallow a nest for herself, where she sets her young,At Your ^aaltars, O Yahweh of hosts,^bMy King and my God.⁴How ^ablessed are those who dwell in Your house!They are ^bever praising You. ¹ Selah.⁵How blessed is the man whose ^astrength is in You,In ¹whose heart are the ^bhighways to Zion!⁶Passing through the valley of ¹Baca they make it a ²spring;The ^aearly rain also wraps it up with blessings.⁷They ^ago from strength to strength,¹Each one of them ^bappears before God in Zion.⁸O ^aYahweh God of hosts, hear my prayer;Give ear, O ^bGod of Jacob! Selah.⁹See our ^ashield, O God,And look upon the face of ^bYour anointed.¹⁰For ^abetter is a day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.I would choose to stand at the threshold of the house of my GodThan dwell in the tents of wickedness.¹¹For Yahweh God is ^aa sun and ^bshield;Yahweh gives grace and ^cglory;^dNo good thing does He withhold ¹from those who walk blamelessly.¹²O Yahweh of hosts,How ^ablessed is the man who trusts in You!