A Chosen People

1 “When the ^eLord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, ^fthe Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations ^gmore numerous and mightier than you, 2 ^hand when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must ⁱdevote them to complete destruction.^{1 j}You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 ^kYou shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. ^lThen the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you ^mquickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: ⁿyou shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their ⁿpillars and chop down their ⁿAsherim and ^oburn their carved images with fire.

6 “For ^pyou are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be ^pa people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but ^qit is because the Lord loves you and is keeping ^rthe oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, ^sthe faithful God ^twho keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and ^urepays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. ^vHe will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 ^wYou shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

12 ^x“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you ^ythe covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. 13 He will ^zlove you, bless you, and multiply you. ^aHe will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. ^bThere shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. 15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil ^cdiseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. 16 And ^dyou shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. ^eYour eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be ^fa snare to you.

17 “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ 18 ^gyou shall not be afraid of them but you shall ^hremember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19 the great trials that your eyes saw, ⁱthe signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover, ^jthe Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. 21 You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is ^kin your midst, ^la great and awesome God. 22 ^mThe Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,² lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. 23 ⁿBut the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. 24 And ^ohe will give their kings into your hand, and you shall ^pmake their name perish from under heaven. ^qNo one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25 The carved images of their gods ^ryou shall burn with fire. You ^sshall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ^tensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26 And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction³ like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, ^ufor it is devoted to destruction.

Remember the Lord Your God

1 “The whole commandment that I command you today ^vyou shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you ^wthese forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, ^xtesting you ^yto know what was in your heart, ^zwhether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and ^alet you hunger and ^bfed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that ^cman does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word⁴ that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 ^dYour clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, ^eas a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, ^fa land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, ^gof vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 ^hlest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 ⁱthen your heart be lifted up, and you ^jforget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who ^kled you through the great and terrifying wilderness, ^lwith its fiery serpents and scorpions ^mand thirsty ground where there was no water, ⁿwho brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with ^omanna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, ^pto do you good in the end. 17 Beware ^qlest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for ^rit is he who gives you power to get wealth, ^sthat he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, ^tI solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, ^uso shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

Revive Us Again

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of ⁿthe Sons of Korah.

Saul Ravages the Church

1 And ^bSaul ^capproved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and ^dthey were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But ^eSaul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he ^fdragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Philip Proclaims Christ in Samaria

4 Now ^gthose who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 ^hPhilip went down to the city¹ of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 ⁱAnd the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him ^jand saw the signs that he did. 7 For ^kunclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So ^lthere was much joy in that city.

Simon the Magician Believes

9 But there was a man named Simon, ^mwho had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, ⁿsaying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, ^o“This man is the power of God that is called ^pGreat.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had ^qamazed them with his magic. 12 But when ^rthey believed Philip as he preached good news ^sabout the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, ^rthey were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And ^tseeing signs and ^ugreat miracles² performed, ^vhe was amazed.

14 Now when ^wthe apostles at Jerusalem heard that ^xSamaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them ^ythat they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for ^zhe had not yet ^afallen on any of them, but ^bthey had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then ^cthey laid their hands on them and ^dthey received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, ^e“May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God ^fwith money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for ^gyour heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, ^hif possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in ⁱthe gall³ of bitterness and in ^jthe bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, ^k“Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

25 Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, ^lpreaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

26 Now ^man angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south⁴ to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an ⁿEthiopian, a ^oeunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, ^pwho was in charge of all her treasure. ^qHe had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, ^r“How can I, unless someone ^sguides me?” And ^the invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and ^wbeginning with this Scripture ^xhe told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! ^yWhat prevents me from being baptized?”⁵ 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, ^zthe Spirit of the Lord ^acarried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.