The Covenant Renewed in Moab

1 ¹ These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel ^cin the land of Moab, besides ^dthe covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.

2 ² And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: ^e“You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great ^ftrials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But to this day ^gthe Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. 5 ^hI have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 ⁱYou have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, ^jSihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and ^kgave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 ^lTherefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper³ in all that you do.

10 “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes,⁴ your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the ^msojourner who is in your camp, from ⁿthe one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the ^osworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may ^pestablish you today as his people, and that ^qhe may be your God, as he promised you, and ^ras he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone ^sthat I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, ^tand with whoever is not here with us today.

16 “You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you ^ua root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather ^vthe anger of the Lord and ^whis jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord ^xwill blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. 22 And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, ^ywill say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— 23 the whole land burned out with brimstone and ^zsalt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, ^aan overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, ^bAdmah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath— 24 all the nations ^cwill say, ^d‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 26 and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. 27 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, ^ebringing upon it all the curses written in this book, 28 and the Lord ^fuprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and ^gcast them into another land, as they are this day.’

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Repentance and Forgiveness

1 ^h“And ⁱwhen all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and ^jyou call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and ^kreturn to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God ^lwill restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will ^mgather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 ⁿIf your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. ^oAnd he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6 And ^pthe Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, ^qso that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 ^rThe Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. ^sFor the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life and Death

11 “For this commandment that I command you today ^tis not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 ^uIt is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

15 “See, ^vI have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God⁵ that I command you today, ^wby loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,⁶ then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if ^xyour heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 ^yI declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, ^zblessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice ^aand holding fast to him, for ^bhe is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in ^cthe land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

Paul in Corinth

1 After this Paul¹ left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named ^vAquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife ^vPriscilla, because ^wClaudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and ^xbecause he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And ^yhe reasoned in the synagogue ^yevery Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

5 ^zWhen Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul ^awas occupied with the word, ^btestifying to the Jews that the Christ was ^cJesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, ^dhe shook out his garments and said to them, ^e“Your blood be on your own heads! ^fI am innocent. ^gFrom now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius ^hJustus, ⁱa worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 ^jCrispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together ^kwith his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul ^lone night in ^ma vision, ⁿ“Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 ⁿfor I am with you, and ^ono one will attack you to harm you, for ^pI have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12 But when Gallio was ^qproconsul of Achaia, ^rthe Jews² made a united attack on Paul and ^sbrought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to ^tthe law.” 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious ^ucrime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. 15 But ^vsince it is a matter of questions about words and names and ^wyour own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” 16 And he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

Paul Returns to Antioch

18 After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of ^xthe brothers³ and set sail for Syria, and with him ^yPriscilla and Aquila. At ^zCenchreae ^ahe had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 19 And they came to ^bEphesus, and he left them there, but ^che himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you ^dif God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he ^ewent up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. 23 After spending some time there, he departed and ^fwent from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, ^gstrengthening all the disciples.

Apollos Speaks Boldly in Ephesus

24 Now a Jew named ^hApollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, ⁱcompetent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in ^jthe way of the Lord. And ^kbeing fervent in spirit,⁴ he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only ^lthe baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when ^mPriscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him ⁿthe way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wished to cross to ^oAchaia, ^pthe brothers encouraged him and ^qwrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, ^rhe greatly helped those who through grace had believed, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures ^sthat the Christ was Jesus.