²⁶ “Men and brethren, sons of the ^[a]family of Abraham, and ^(A)those among you who fear God, ^(B)to you the ^[b]word of this salvation has been sent. ²⁷ For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, ^(C)because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him. ^28 (D)And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. ^29 (E)Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, ^(F)they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. ^30 (G)But God raised Him from the dead. ^31 (H)He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people. ³² And we declare to you glad tidings—^(I)that promise which was made to the fathers. ³³ God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm:

³⁴ And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to ^[c]corruption, He has spoken thus:

³⁵ Therefore He also says in another Psalm:

³⁶ “For David, after he had served ^[e]his own generation by the will of God, ^(M)fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and ^[f]saw corruption; ³⁷ but He whom God raised up ^[g]saw no corruption. ³⁸ Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that ^(N)through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; ³⁹ and ^(O)by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you:

Blessing and Conflict at Antioch

^42 [h]So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. ⁴³ Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, ^(Q)persuaded them to continue in ^(R)the grace of God.

⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. ⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they ^(S)opposed the things spoken by Paul. ⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ^(T)“It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but ^(U)since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, ^(V)we turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us:

⁴⁸ Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. ^(X)And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. ⁵⁰ But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, ^(Y)raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. ^51 (Z)But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium. ⁵² And the disciples ^(AA)were filled with joy and ^(AB)with the Holy Spirit.

The Cities of Refuge^(A)

20 The Lord also spoke to Joshua, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ^(B)‘Appoint^[a] for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, ³ that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴ And when he flees to one of those cities, and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and ^[b]declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. ^5 (C)Then if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, but did not hate him beforehand. ⁶ And he shall dwell in that city ^(D)until he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house, to the city from which he fled.’ ”

⁷ So they appointed ^(E)Kedesh in Galilee, in the mountains of Naphtali, ^(F)Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and ^(G)Kirjath Arba (which is Hebron) in ^(H)the mountains of Judah. ⁸ And on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned ^(I)Bezer in the wilderness on the plain, from the tribe of Reuben, ^(J)Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and ^(K)Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. ^9 (L)These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger who ^[c]dwelt among them, that whoever killed a person accidentally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood ^(M)until he stood before the congregation.

Cities of the Levites^(N)

21 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the ^(O)Levites came near to ^(P)Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. ² And they spoke to them at ^(Q)Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, ^(R)“The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for our livestock.” ³ So the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, at the commandment of the Lord, these cities and their common-lands:

⁴ Now the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And ^(S)the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, ^(T)had thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin. ^5 (U)The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶ And ^(V)the children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

^7 (W)The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun.

^8 (X)And the children of Israel gave these cities with their common-lands by lot to the Levites, ^(Y)as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.

⁹ So they gave from the tribe of the children of Judah and from the tribe of the children of Simeon these cities which are ^[d]designated by name, ¹⁰ which were for the children of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for the lot was theirs first. ^11 (Z)And they gave them ^[e]Kirjath Arba (Arba was the father of ^(AA)Anak), ^(AB)which is Hebron, in the mountains of Judah, with the common-land surrounding it. ¹² But ^(AC)the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³ Thus ^(AD)to the children of Aaron the priest they gave ^(AE)Hebron with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), ^(AF)Libnah with its common-land, ^14 (AG)Jattir with its common-land, ^(AH)Eshtemoa with its common-land, ^15 (AI)Holon with its common-land, ^(AJ)Debir with its common-land, ^16 (AK)Ain with its common-land, ^(AL)Juttah with its common-land, and ^(AM)Beth Shemesh with its common-land: nine cities from those two tribes; ¹⁷ and from the tribe of Benjamin, ^(AN)Gibeon with its common-land, ^(AO)Geba with its common-land, ¹⁸ Anathoth with its common-land, and ^(AP)Almon with its common-land: four cities. ¹⁹ All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

^20 (AQ)And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, the rest of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their ^[f]lot from the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹ For they gave them ^(AR)Shechem with its common-land in the mountains of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the slayer), ^(AS)Gezer with its common-land, ²² Kibzaim with its common-land, and Beth Horon with its common-land: four cities; ²³ and from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its common-land, Gibbethon with its common-land, ^24 (AT)Aijalon with its common-land, and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: four cities; ²⁵ and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: two cities. ²⁶ All the ten cities with their common-lands were for the rest of the families of the children of Kohath.

^27 (AU)Also to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, they gave ^(AV)Golan in Bashan with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), and Be Eshterah with its common-land: two cities; ²⁸ and from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its common-land, Daberath with its common-land, ²⁹ Jarmuth with its common-land, and En Gannim with its common-land: four cities; ³⁰ and from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its common-land, Abdon with its common-land, ³¹ Helkath with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities; ³² and from the tribe of Naphtali, ^(AW)Kedesh in Galilee with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Hammoth Dor with its common-land, and Kartan with its common-land: three cities. ³³ All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

^34 (AX)And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its common-land, Kartah with its common-land, ³⁵ Dimnah with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four cities; ^36 [g]and from the tribe of Reuben, ^(AY)Bezer with its common-land, Jahaz with its common-land, ³⁷ Kedemoth with its common-land, and Mephaath with its common-land: four cities; ³⁸ and from the tribe of Gad, ^(AZ)Ramoth in Gilead with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Mahanaim with its common-land, ³⁹ Heshbon with its common-land, and Jazer with its common-land: four cities in all. ⁴⁰ So all the cities for the children of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.

^41 (BA)All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their common-lands. ⁴² Every one of these cities had its common-land surrounding it; thus were all these cities.

The Promise Fulfilled

⁴³ So the Lord gave to Israel ^(BB)all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they ^(BC)took possession of it and dwelt in it. ^44 (BD)The Lord gave them ^(BE)rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And ^(BF)not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. ^45 (BG)Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

Job’s Wealth Now Poverty