Deuteronomy 13-14
Deuteronomy 13
1 If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder,
2 And the sign or the wonder he foretells to you comes to pass, and if he says, Let us go after other gods—gods you have not known—and let us serve them,
3 You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being.
4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and [reverently] fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and cling to Him.
5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has talked rebellion and turning away from the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage; that man has tried to draw you aside from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So shall you put the evil away from your midst.
6 If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own life entices you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods—gods you have not known, you nor your fathers,
7 Of the gods of the peoples who are round about you, near you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other—
8 You shall not give consent to him or listen to him; nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him.
9 But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people.
10 And you shall stone him to death with stones, because he has tried to draw you away from the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
11 And all Israel shall hear and [reverently] fear, and shall never again do any such wickedness as this among you.
12 If you hear it said in one of your cities which the Lord your God has given you in which to dwell
13 That certain base fellows have gone out from your midst and have enticed away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods—gods you have not known—
14 Then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it is true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done among you,
15 You shall surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly and all who are in it and its beasts with the edge of the sword.
16 And you shall collect all its spoil into the midst of its open square and shall burn the city with fire with every bit of its spoil [as a whole burnt offering] to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap [of ruins] forever; it shall not be built again.
17 And nothing of the accursed thing shall cling to your hand, so that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of His anger, and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as He swore to your fathers,
18 If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep all His commandments which I command you this day, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 14
1 You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead,
2 For you are a holy people [set apart] to the Lord your God; and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people to Himself, above all the nations on the earth.
3 You shall not eat anything that is abominable [to the Lord and so forbidden by Him].
4 These are the beasts which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,
5 The hart, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
6 And every beast that parts the hoof and has it divided into two and brings up and chews the cud among the beasts you may eat.
7 Yet these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud or have the hoof split in two: the camel, the hare, and the coney, because they chew the cud but divide not the hoof; they are unclean for you.
8 And the swine, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud; it is unclean to you. You shall not eat of their flesh or touch their dead bodies.
9 These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales you may eat,
10 And whatever has not fins and scales you may not eat; it is unclean for you.
11 Of all clean birds you may eat.
12 But these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the ospray,
13 The buzzard, the kite in its several species,
14 The raven in all its species,
15 The ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any variety,
16 The little owl, the great owl, the horned owl,
17 The pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,
18 The stork, the heron of any variety, the hoopoe, and the bat.
19 And all flying insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.
20 But of all clean winged things you may eat.
21 You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the stranger or the foreigner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to an alien. [They are not under God’s law in this matter] but you are a people holy to the Lord your God. You shall not [even] boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
22 You shall surely tithe all the yield of your seed produced by your field each year.
23 And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place in which He will cause His Name [and Presence] to dwell the tithe (tenth) of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstlings of your herd and your flock, that you may learn [reverently] to fear the Lord your God always.
24 And if the distance is too long for you to carry your tithe, or the place where the Lord your God chooses to set His Name [and Presence] is too far away for you, when the Lord your God has blessed you,
25 Then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place [of worship] which the Lord your God has chosen.
26 And you may spend that money for whatever your appetite craves, for oxen, or sheep, or new wine or strong[er] drink, or whatever you desire; and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
27 And you shall not forsake or neglect the Levite [God’s minister] in your towns, for he has been given no share or inheritance with you.
28 At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year and lay it up within your towns.
29 And the Levite [because he has no part or inheritance with you] and the stranger or temporary resident, and the fatherless and the widow who are in your towns shall come and eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
Acts 4
Acts 4
1 And while they [Peter and John] were talking to the people, the high priests and the military commander of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them,
2 Being vexed and indignant through and through because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in [the case of] Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
3 So they laid hands on them (arrested them) and put them in prison until the following day, for it was already evening.
4 But many of those who heard the message believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on Jesus as the Christ). And their number grew and came to about 5,000.
5 Then on the following day, their magistrates and elders and scribes were assembled in Jerusalem,
6 Including Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all others who belonged to the high priestly relationship.
7 And they set the men in their midst and repeatedly demanded, By what sort of power or by what kind of authority did [such people as] you do this [healing]?
8 Then Peter, [because he was] filled with [and controlled by] the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and members of the council (the Sanhedrin),
9 If we are being put on trial [here] today and examined concerning a good deed done to benefit a feeble (helpless) cripple, by what means this man has been restored to health,
10 Let it be known and understood by all of you, and by the whole house of Israel, that in the name and through the power and authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified, [but] Whom God raised from the dead, in Him and by means of Him this man is standing here before you well and sound in body.
11 This [Jesus] is the Stone which was despised and rejected by you, the builders, but which has become the Head of the corner [the Cornerstone].
12 And there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved.
13 Now when they saw the boldness and unfettered eloquence of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and untrained in the schools [common men with no educational advantages], they marveled; and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
14 And since they saw the man who had been cured standing there beside them, they could not contradict the fact or say anything in opposition.
15 But having ordered [the prisoners] to go aside out of the council [chamber], they conferred (debated) among themselves,
16 Saying, What are we to do with these men? For that an extraordinary miracle has been performed by (through) them is plain to all the residents of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.
17 But in order that it may not spread further among the people and the nation, let us warn and forbid them with a stern threat to speak any more to anyone in this name [or about this Person].
18 [So] they summoned them and imperatively instructed them not to converse in any way or teach at all in or about the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John replied to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you and obey you rather than God, you must decide (judge).
20 But we [ourselves] cannot help telling what we have seen and heard.
21 Then when [the rulers and council members] had further threatened them, they let them go, not seeing how they could secure a conviction against them because of the people; for everybody was praising and glorifying God for what had occurred.
22 For the man on whom this sign (miracle) of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
23 After they were permitted to go, [the apostles] returned to their own [company] and told all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
24 And when they heard it, lifted their voices together with one united mind to God and said, O Sovereign Lord, You are He Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything that is in them,
25 Who by the mouth of our forefather David, Your servant and child, said through the Holy Spirit, Why did the heathen (Gentiles) become wanton and insolent and rage, and the people imagine and study and plan vain (fruitless) things [that will not succeed]?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand in array [for attack] and the rulers were assembled and combined together against the Lord and against His Anointed (Christ, the Messiah).
27 For in this city there actually met and plotted together against Your holy Child and Servant Jesus, Whom You consecrated by anointing, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and peoples of Israel,
28 To carry out all that Your hand and Your will and purpose had predestined (predetermined) should occur.
29 And now, Lord, observe their threats and grant to Your bond servants [full freedom] to declare Your message fearlessly,
30 While You stretch out Your hand to cure and to perform signs and wonders through the authority and by the power of the name of Your holy Child and Servant Jesus.
31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they continued to speak the Word of God with freedom and boldness and courage.
32 Now the company of believers was of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything which he possessed was [exclusively] his own, but everything they had was in common and for the use of all.
33 And with great strength and ability and power the apostles delivered their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace (loving-kindness and favor and goodwill) rested richly upon them all.
34 Nor was there a destitute or needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses proceeded to sell them, and one by one they brought (gave back) the amount received from the sales
35 And laid it at the feet of the apostles (special messengers). Then distribution was made according as anyone had need.
36 Now Joseph, a Levite and native of Cyprus who was surnamed Barnabas by the apostles, which interpreted means Son of Encouragement,
37 Sold a field which belonged to him and brought the sum of money and laid it at the feet of the apostles.
All rights reserved. For Permission To Quote information visit www.lockman.org.
The "Amplified" trademark is registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by The Lockman Foundation. Use of this trademark requires the permission of The Lockman Foundation.