2
to say to the people of Israel, "I am the LORD your God.
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Do not follow the practices of the people of Egypt, where you once lived, or of the people in the land of Canaan, where I am now taking you.
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Obey my laws and do what I command. I am the LORD your God.
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Follow the practices and the laws that I give you; you will save your life by doing so. I am the LORD."
6
The LORD gave the following regulations. Do not have sexual intercourse with any of your relatives.
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Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother. You must not disgrace your own mother.
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Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with any of his other wives.
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Do not have intercourse with your sister or your stepsister, whether or not she was brought up in the same house with you.
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Do not have intercourse with your granddaughter; that would be a disgrace to you.
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Do not have intercourse with a half sister; she, too, is your sister.
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Do not have intercourse with an aunt, whether she is your father's sister or your mother's sister.
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Do not have intercourse with your uncle's wife; she, too, is your aunt.
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Do not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law
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or with your brother's wife.
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Do not have intercourse with the daughter or granddaughter of a woman with whom you have had intercourse; they may be related to you, and that would be incest.
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Do not take your wife's sister as one of your wives, as long as your wife is living.
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Do not have intercourse with a woman during her monthly period, because she is ritually unclean.
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Do not have intercourse with another man's wife; that would make you ritually unclean.
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Do not hand over any of your children to be used in the worship of the god Molech, because that would bring disgrace on the name of God, the LORD.
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No man is to have sexual relations with another man; God hates that.
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No man or woman is to have sexual relations with an animal; that perversion makes you ritually unclean.
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Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these acts, for that is how the pagans made themselves unclean, those pagans who lived in the land before you and whom the LORD is driving out so that you can go in.
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Their actions made the land unclean, and so the LORD is punishing the land and making it reject the people who lived there.
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They did all these disgusting things and made the land unclean, but you must not do them. All of you, whether Israelites or foreigners living with you, must keep the LORD's laws and commands,
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and then the land will not reject you, as it rejected the pagans who lived there before you.
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You know that whoever does any of these disgusting things will no longer be considered one of God's people.
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And the LORD said, "Obey the commands I give and do not follow the practices of the people who lived in the land before you, and do not make yourselves unclean by doing any of these things. I am the LORD your God."
2
to say to the community of Israel, "Be holy, because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
3
Each of you must respect your mother and your father, and must keep the Sabbath, as I have commanded. I am the LORD your God.
4
"Do not abandon me and worship idols; do not make gods of metal and worship them. I am the LORD your God.
5
"When you kill an animal for a fellowship offering, keep the regulations that I have given you, and I will accept the offering.
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The meat must be eaten on the day the animal is killed or on the next day. Any meat left on the third day must be burned,
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because it is ritually unclean, and if anyone eats it, I will not accept the offering.
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Any who eat it will be guilty of treating as ordinary what is dedicated to me, and they will no longer be considered my people.
9
"When you harvest your fields, do not cut the grain at the edges of the fields, and do not go back to cut the heads of grain that were left.
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Do not go back through your vineyard to gather the grapes that were missed or to pick up the grapes that have fallen; leave them for poor people and foreigners. I am the LORD your God.
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"Do not steal or cheat or lie.
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Do not make a promise in my name if you do not intend to keep it; that brings disgrace on my name. I am the LORD your God.
13
"Do not rob or take advantage of anyone. Do not hold back the wages of someone you have hired, not even for one night.
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Do not curse the deaf or put something in front of the blind so as to make them stumble over it. Obey me; I am the LORD your God.
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"Be honest and just when you make decisions in legal cases; do not show favoritism to the poor or fear the rich.
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Do not spread lies about anyone, and when someone is on trial for his life, speak out if your testimony can help him. I am the LORD.
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"Do not bear a grudge against others, but settle your differences with them, so that you will not commit a sin because of them.
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Do not take revenge on others or continue to hate them, but love your neighbors as you love yourself. I am the LORD.
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"Obey my commands. Do not crossbreed domestic animals. Do not plant two kinds of seed in the same field. Do not wear clothes made of two kinds of material.
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"If a slave woman is the recognized concubine of a man and she has not been paid for and freed, then if another man has sexual relations with her, they will be punished, but not put to death, since she is a slave.
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The man shall bring a ram to the entrance of the Tent of my presence as his repayment offering,
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and with it the priest shall perform the ritual of purification to remove the man's sin, and God will forgive him.
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"When you come into the land of Canaan and plant any kind of fruit tree, consider the fruit ritually unclean for the first three years. During that time you must not eat it.
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In the fourth year all the fruit shall be dedicated as an offering to show your gratitude to me, the LORD.
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But in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you do all this, your trees will bear more fruit. I am the LORD your God.
26
"Do not eat any meat with blood still in it. Do not practice any kind of magic.
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Do not cut the hair on the sides of your head or trim your beard
28
or tattoo yourselves or cut gashes in your body to mourn for the dead. I am the LORD.
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"Do not disgrace your daughters by making them temple prostitutes; if you do, you will turn to other gods and the land will be full of immorality.
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Keep the Sabbath, and honor the place where I am worshiped. I am the LORD.
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"Do not go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead. If you do, you will be ritually unclean. I am the LORD your God.
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"Show respect for old people and honor them. Reverently obey me; I am the LORD.
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"Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land.
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Treat them as you would an Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
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"Do not cheat anyone by using false measures of length, weight, or quantity.
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Use honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures. I am the LORD your God, and I brought you out of Egypt.
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Obey all my laws and commands. I am the LORD."
1
While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior of the province and arrived in Ephesus. There he found some disciples
2
and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" "We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit," they answered.
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"Well, then, what kind of baptism did you receive?" Paul asked. "The baptism of John," they answered.
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Paul said, "The baptism of John was for those who turned from their sins; and he told the people of Israel to believe in the one who was coming after him---that is, in Jesus."
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When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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Paul placed his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them; they spoke in strange tongues and also proclaimed God's message.
7
They were about twelve men in all.
8
Paul went into the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly with the people, holding discussions with them and trying to convince them about the Kingdom of God.
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But some of them were stubborn and would not believe, and before the whole group they said evil things about the Way of the Lord. So Paul left them and took the believers with him, and every day he held discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
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This went on for two years, so that all the people who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Gentiles, heard the word of the Lord.
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God was performing unusual miracles through Paul.
12
Even handkerchiefs and aprons he had used were taken to the sick, and their diseases were driven away, and the evil spirits would go out of them.
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Some Jews who traveled around and drove out evil spirits also tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to do this. They said to the evil spirits, "I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches."
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Seven brothers, who were the sons of a Jewish High Priest named Sceva, were doing this.
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But the evil spirit said to them, "I know Jesus, and I know about Paul; but you---who are you?"
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The man who had the evil spirit in him attacked them with such violence that he overpowered them all. They ran away from his house, wounded and with their clothes torn off.
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All the Jews and Gentiles who lived in Ephesus heard about this; they were all filled with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was given greater honor.
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Many of the believers came, publicly admitting and revealing what they had done.
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Many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in public. They added up the price of the books, and the total came to fifty thousand silver coins.
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In this powerful way the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing stronger.
21
After these things had happened, Paul made up his mind to travel through Macedonia and Achaia and go on to Jerusalem. "After I go there," he said, "I must also see Rome."
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So he sent Timothy and Erastus, two of his helpers, to Macedonia, while he spent more time in the province of Asia.
23
It was at this time that there was serious trouble in Ephesus because of the Way of the Lord.
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A certain silversmith named Demetrius made silver models of the temple of the goddess Artemis, and his business brought a great deal of profit to the workers.
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So he called them all together with others whose work was like theirs and said to them, "Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this work.
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Now, you can see and hear for yourselves what this fellow Paul is doing. He says that hand-made gods are not gods at all, and he has succeeded in convincing many people, both here in Ephesus and in nearly the whole province of Asia.
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There is the danger, then, that this business of ours will get a bad name. Not only that, but there is also the danger that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will come to mean nothing and that her greatness will be destroyed---the goddess worshiped by everyone in Asia and in all the world!"
28
As the crowd heard these words, they became furious and started shouting, "Great is Artemis of Ephesus!"
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The uproar spread throughout the whole city. The mob grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians who were traveling with Paul, and rushed with them to the theater.
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Paul himself wanted to go before the crowd, but the believers would not let him.
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Some of the provincial authorities, who were his friends, also sent him a message begging him not to show himself in the theater.
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Meanwhile the whole meeting was in an uproar: some people were shouting one thing, others were shouting something else, because most of them did not even know why they had come together.
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Some of the people concluded that Alexander was responsible, since the Jews made him go up to the front. Then Alexander motioned with his hand for the people to be silent, and he tried to make a speech of defense.
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But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted together the same thing for two hours: "Great is Artemis of Ephesus!"
35
At last the city clerk was able to calm the crowd. "Fellow Ephesians!" he said. "Everyone knows that the city of Ephesus is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of the sacred stone that fell down from heaven.
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Nobody can deny these things. So then, you must calm down and not do anything reckless.
37
You have brought these men here even though they have not robbed temples or said evil things about our goddess.
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If Demetrius and his workers have an accusation against anyone, we have the authorities and the regular days for court; charges can be made there.
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But if there is something more that you want, it will have to be settled in a legal meeting of citizens.
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For after what has happened today, there is the danger that we will be accused of a riot. There is no excuse for all this uproar, and we would not be able to give a good reason for it."
41
After saying this, he dismissed the meeting.
