27th April

¹ If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,² And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;³ Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.⁴ Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.⁵ And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.⁶ If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;⁷ Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;⁸ Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:⁹ But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.¹⁰ And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.¹¹ And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.¹² If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,¹³ Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;¹⁴ Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;¹⁵ Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.¹⁶ And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.¹⁷ And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;¹⁸ When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.

¹ Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.² For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.³ Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.⁴ These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,⁵ The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.⁶ And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat.⁷ Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you.⁸ And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.⁹ These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat:¹⁰ And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.¹¹ Of all clean birds ye shall eat.¹² But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,¹³ And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind,¹⁴ And every raven after his kind,¹⁵ And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,¹⁶ The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan,¹⁷ And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant,¹⁸ And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.¹⁹ And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.²⁰ But of all clean fowls ye may eat.²¹ Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.²² Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.²³ And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.²⁴ And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:²⁵ Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose:²⁶ And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,²⁷ And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.²⁸ At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates:²⁹ And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.

¹ There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:² A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.³ If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.⁴ For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.⁵ Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other.⁶ Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?⁷ All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.⁸ For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?⁹ Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.¹⁰ That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.¹¹ Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?¹² For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

¹ Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.² And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;³ Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.⁴ And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.⁵ And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.⁶ Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.⁷ And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.⁸ And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.⁹ And all the people saw him walking and praising God:¹⁰ And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.¹¹ And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.¹² And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?¹³ The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.¹⁴ But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;¹⁵ And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.¹⁶ And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.¹⁷ And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.¹⁸ But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.¹⁹ Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.²⁰ And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:²¹ Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.²² For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.²³ And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.²⁴ Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.²⁵ Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.²⁶ Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

¹ And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,² Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.³ And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.⁴ Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.⁵ And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,⁶ And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.⁷ And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,⁹ If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;¹⁰ Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.¹¹ This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.¹² Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.¹³ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.¹⁴ And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.¹⁵ But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,¹⁶ Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.¹⁷ But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.¹⁸ And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.¹⁹ But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.²⁰ For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.²¹ So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.²² For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.²³ And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.²⁴ And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:²⁵ Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?²⁶ The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.²⁷ For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,²⁸ For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.²⁹ And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,³⁰ By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.³¹ And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.³² And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.³³ And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.³⁴ Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,³⁵ And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.³⁶ And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,³⁷ Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.