Exclusion From the Assembly

23 ^[a]No one who has been emasculated^(A) by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.

² No one born of a forbidden marriage^[b] nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.

³ No Ammonite^(B) or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.^{(C) 4} For they did not come to meet you with bread and water^(D) on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam^(E) son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim^[c](F) to pronounce a curse on you.^{(G) 5} However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse^(H) into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves^(I) you. ⁶ Do not seek a treaty^(J) of friendship with them as long as you live.^(K)

⁷ Do not despise an Edomite,^(L) for the Edomites are related to you.^(M) Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country.^{(N) 8} The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Uncleanness in the Camp

⁹ When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure.^{(O) 10} If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.^{(P) 11} But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset^(Q) he may return to the camp.^(R)

¹² Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. ¹³ As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ For the Lord your God moves^(S) about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy,^(T) so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

¹⁵ If a slave has taken refuge^(U) with you, do not hand them over to their master.^{(V) 16} Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress^(W) them.

¹⁷ No Israelite man^(X) or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.^{(Y) 18} You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute^[d] into the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both.^(Z)

¹⁹ Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.^{(AA) 20} You may charge a foreigner^(AB) interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless^(AC) you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.

²¹ If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it,^(AD) for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.^{(AE) 22} But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.^{(AF) 23} Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.

²⁴ If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. ²⁵ If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.^(AG)

24 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him^(AH) because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce,^(AI) gives it to her and sends her from his house, ² and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, ³ and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, ⁴ then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord^(AJ) your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵ If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.^(AK)

⁶ Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.^(AL)

⁷ If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die.^(AM) You must purge the evil from among you.^(AN)

⁸ In cases of defiling skin diseases,^[e] be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical^(AO) priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.^{(AP) 9} Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.^(AQ)

¹⁰ When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge.^{(AR) 11} Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. ¹² If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge^(AS) in your possession. ¹³ Return their cloak by sunset^(AT) so that your neighbor may sleep in it.^(AU) Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.^(AV)

¹⁴ Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.^{(AW) 15} Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor^(AX) and are counting on it.^(AY) Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.^(AZ)

¹⁶ Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.^(BA)

¹⁷ Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless^(BB) of justice,^(BC) or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. ¹⁸ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt^(BD) and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

¹⁹ When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it.^(BE) Leave it for the foreigner,^(BF) the fatherless and the widow,^(BG) so that the Lord your God may bless^(BH) you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time.^(BI) Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²¹ When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.^(BJ)

Psalm 131

A song of ascents. Of David.

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra,^(A) where a disciple named Timothy^(B) lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer^(C) but whose father was a Greek. ² The believers^(D) at Lystra and Iconium^(E) spoke well of him. ³ Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.^{(F) 4} As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders^(G) in Jerusalem^(H) for the people to obey.^{(I) 5} So the churches were strengthened^(J) in the faith and grew daily in numbers.^(K)

Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia

⁶ Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia^(L) and Galatia,^(M) having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.^{(N) 7} When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus^(O) would not allow them to. ⁸ So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.^{(P) 9} During the night Paul had a vision^(Q) of a man of Macedonia^(R) standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we^(S) got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel^(T) to them.

Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

¹¹ From Troas^(U) we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. ¹² From there we traveled to Philippi,^(V) a Roman colony and the leading city of that district^[a] of Macedonia.^(W) And we stayed there several days.

¹³ On the Sabbath^(X) we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴ One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira^(Y) named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart^(Z) to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁵ When she and the members of her household^(AA) were baptized,^(AB) she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Paul and Silas in Prison

¹⁶ Once when we were going to the place of prayer,^(AC) we were met by a female slave who had a spirit^(AD) by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God,^(AE) who are telling you the way to be saved.” ¹⁸ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.^(AF)

¹⁹ When her owners realized that their hope of making money^(AG) was gone, they seized Paul and Silas^(AH) and dragged^(AI) them into the marketplace to face the authorities. ²⁰ They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar^{(AJ) 21} by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans^(AK) to accept or practice.”^(AL)

²² The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.^{(AM) 23} After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer^(AN) was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴ When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.^(AO)

²⁵ About midnight^(AP) Paul and Silas^(AQ) were praying and singing hymns^(AR) to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.^(AS) At once all the prison doors flew open,^(AT) and everyone’s chains came loose.^{(AU) 27} The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.^{(AV) 28} But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.^{(AW) 30} He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”^(AX)

³¹ They replied, “Believe^(AY) in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved^(AZ)—you and your household.”^{(BA) 32} Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³ At that hour of the night^(BB) the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.^{(BC) 34} The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he^(BD) was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

³⁵ When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” ³⁶ The jailer^(BE) told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”^(BF)

³⁷ But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens,^(BG) and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

³⁸ The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed.^{(BH) 39} They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city.^{(BI) 40} After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house,^(BJ) where they met with the brothers and sisters^(BK) and encouraged them. Then they left.