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"Do not spread false rumors, and do not help a guilty person by giving false testimony.
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Do not follow the majority when they do wrong or when they give testimony that perverts justice.
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Do not show partiality to a poor person at his trial.
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"If you happen to see your enemy's cow or donkey running loose, take it back to him.
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If his donkey has fallen under its load, help him get the donkey to its feet again; don't just walk off.
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"Do not deny justice to a poor person when he appears in court.
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Do not make false accusations, and do not put an innocent person to death, for I will condemn anyone who does such an evil thing.
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Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe makes people blind to what is right and ruins the cause of those who are innocent.
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"Do not mistreat a foreigner; you know how it feels to be a foreigner, because you were foreigners in Egypt.
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"For six years plant your land and gather in what it produces.
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But in the seventh year let it rest, and do not harvest anything that grows on it. The poor may eat what grows there, and the wild animals can have what is left. Do the same with your vineyards and your olive trees.
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"Work six days a week, but do no work on the seventh day, so that your slaves and the foreigners who work for you and even your animals can rest.
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"Listen to everything that I, the LORD, have said to you. Do not pray to other gods; do not even mention their names.
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"Celebrate three festivals a year to honor me.
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In the month of Abib, the month in which you left Egypt, celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the way that I commanded you. Do not eat any bread made with yeast during the seven days of this festival. Never come to worship me without bringing an offering.
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"Celebrate the Harvest Festival when you begin to harvest your crops. "Celebrate the Festival of Shelters in the autumn, when you gather the fruit from your vineyards and orchards.
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Every year at these three festivals all your men must come to worship me, the Lord your God.
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"Do not offer bread made with yeast when you sacrifice an animal to me. The fat of animals sacrificed to me during these festivals is not to be left until the following morning.
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"Each year bring to the house of the LORD your God the first grain that you harvest. "Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother's milk.
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"I will send an angel ahead of you to protect you as you travel and to bring you to the place which I have prepared.
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Pay attention to him and obey him. Do not rebel against him, for I have sent him, and he will not pardon such rebellion.
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But if you obey him and do everything I command, I will fight against all your enemies.
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My angel will go ahead of you and take you into the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will destroy them.
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Do not bow down to their gods or worship them, and do not adopt their religious practices. Destroy their gods and break down their sacred stone pillars.
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If you worship me, the LORD your God, I will bless you with food and water and take away all your sicknesses.
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In your land no woman will have a miscarriage or be without children. I will give you long lives.
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"I will make the people who oppose you afraid of me; I will bring confusion among the people against whom you fight, and I will make all your enemies turn and run from you.
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I will throw your enemies into panic; I will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites as you advance.
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I will not drive them out within a year's time; if I did, the land would become deserted, and the wild animals would be too many for you.
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Instead, I will drive them out little by little, until there are enough of you to take possession of the land.
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I will make the borders of your land extend from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the inhabitants of the land, and you will drive them out as you advance.
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Do not make any agreement with them or with their gods.
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Do not let those people live in your country; if you do, they will make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, it will be a fatal trap for you."
1
The LORD said to Moses, "Come up the mountain to me, you and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the leaders of Israel; and while you are still some distance away, bow down in worship.
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You alone, and none of the others, are to come near me. The people are not even to come up the mountain."
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Moses went and told the people all the LORD's commands and all the ordinances, and all the people answered together, "We will do everything that the LORD has said."
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Moses wrote down all the LORD's commands. Early the next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
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Then he sent young men, and they burned sacrifices to the LORD and sacrificed some cattle as fellowship offerings.
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Moses took half of the blood of the animals and put it in bowls; and the other half he threw against the altar.
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Then he took the book of the covenant, in which the LORD's commands were written, and read it aloud to the people. They said, "We will obey the LORD and do everything that he has commanded."
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Then Moses took the blood in the bowls and threw it on the people. He said, "This is the blood that seals the covenant which the LORD made with you when he gave all these commands."
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Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the leaders of Israel went up the mountain
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and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath his feet was what looked like a pavement of sapphire, as blue as the sky.
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God did not harm these leading men of Israel; they saw God, and then they ate and drank together.
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The LORD said to Moses, "Come up the mountain to me, and while you are here, I will give you two stone tablets which contain all the laws that I have written for the instruction of the people."
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Moses and his helper Joshua got ready, and Moses began to go up the holy mountain.
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Moses said to the leaders, "Wait here in the camp for us until we come back. Aaron and Hur are here with you; and so whoever has a dispute to settle can go to them."
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Moses went up Mount Sinai, and a cloud covered it.
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The dazzling light of the LORD's presence came down on the mountain. To the Israelites the light looked like a fire burning on top of the mountain. The cloud covered the mountain for six days, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from the cloud.
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Moses went on up the mountain into the cloud. There he stayed for forty days and nights.
1
But there was a man named Ananias, who with his wife Sapphira sold some property that belonged to them.
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But with his wife's agreement he kept part of the money for himself and turned the rest over to the apostles.
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Peter said to him, "Ananias, why did you let Satan take control of you and make you lie to the Holy Spirit by keeping part of the money you received for the property?
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Before you sold the property, it belonged to you; and after you sold it, the money was yours. Why, then, did you decide to do such a thing? You have not lied to people---you have lied to God!"
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As soon as Ananias heard this, he fell down dead; and all who heard about it were terrified.
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The young men came in, wrapped up his body, carried him out, and buried him.
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About three hours later his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in.
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Peter asked her, "Tell me, was this the full amount you and your husband received for your property?" "Yes," she answered, "the full amount."
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So Peter said to her, "Why did you and your husband decide to put the Lord's Spirit to the test? The men who buried your husband are at the door right now, and they will carry you out too!"
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At once she fell down at his feet and died. The young men came in and saw that she was dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
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The whole church and all the others who heard of this were terrified.
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Many miracles and wonders were being performed among the people by the apostles. All the believers met together in Solomon's Porch.
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Nobody outside the group dared join them, even though the people spoke highly of them.
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But more and more people were added to the group---a crowd of men and women who believed in the Lord.
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As a result of what the apostles were doing, sick people were carried out into the streets and placed on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.
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And crowds of people came in from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing those who were sick or who had evil spirits in them; and they were all healed.
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Then the High Priest and all his companions, members of the local party of the Sadducees, became extremely jealous of the apostles; so they decided to take action.
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They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
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But that night an angel of the Lord opened the prison gates, led the apostles out, and said to them,
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"Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new life."
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The apostles obeyed, and at dawn they entered the Temple and started teaching. The High Priest and his companions called together all the Jewish elders for a full meeting of the Council; then they sent orders to the prison to have the apostles brought before them.
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But when the officials arrived, they did not find the apostles in prison, so they returned to the Council and reported,
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"When we arrived at the jail, we found it locked up tight and all the guards on watch at the gates; but when we opened the gates, we found no one inside!"
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When the chief priests and the officer in charge of the Temple guards heard this, they wondered what had happened to the apostles.
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Then a man came in and said to them, "Listen! The men you put in prison are in the Temple teaching the people!"
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So the officer went off with his men and brought the apostles back. They did not use force, however, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.
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They brought the apostles in, made them stand before the Council, and the High Priest questioned them.
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"We gave you strict orders not to teach in the name of this man," he said; "but see what you have done! You have spread your teaching all over Jerusalem, and you want to make us responsible for his death!"
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Peter and the other apostles answered, "We must obey God, not men.
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The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from death, after you had killed him by nailing him to a cross.
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God raised him to his right side as Leader and Savior, to give the people of Israel the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven.
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We are witnesses to these things---we and the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to those who obey him."
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When the members of the Council heard this, they were so furious that they wanted to have the apostles put to death.
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But one of them, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was a teacher of the Law and was highly respected by all the people, stood up in the Council. He ordered the apostles to be taken out for a while,
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and then he said to the Council, "Fellow Israelites, be careful what you do to these men.
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You remember that Theudas appeared some time ago, claiming to be somebody great, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed, all his followers were scattered, and his movement died out.
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After that, Judas the Galilean appeared during the time of the census; he drew a crowd after him, but he also was killed, and all his followers were scattered.
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And so in this case, I tell you, do not take any action against these men. Leave them alone! If what they have planned and done is of human origin, it will disappear,
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but if it comes from God, you cannot possibly defeat them. You could find yourselves fighting against God!" The Council followed Gamaliel's advice.
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They called the apostles in, had them whipped, and ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus; and then they set them free.
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As the apostles left the Council, they were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus.
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And every day in the Temple and in people's homes they continued to teach and preach the Good News about Jesus the Messiah.
