The Council at Jerusalem

2 Then after an interval of fourteen years I ^(A)went up again to Jerusalem with ^(B)Barnabas, taking ^(C)Titus along also. ^2 [a]It was because of a ^(D)revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the ^(E)gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be ^(F)running, or had run, in vain. ³ But not even ^(G)Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was ^(H)compelled to be circumcised. ⁴ But it was because of the ^(I)false brethren secretly brought in, who ^(J)had sneaked in to spy out our ^(K)liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to ^(L)bring us into bondage. ⁵ But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that ^(M)the truth of the gospel would remain with you. ⁶ But from those who ^[b]were of high ^(N)reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; ^(O)God ^[c]shows no partiality)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. ⁷ But on the contrary, seeing that I had been ^(P)entrusted with the ^(Q)gospel ^[d]to the uncircumcised, just as ^(R)Peter had been ^[e]to the circumcised ⁸ (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his ^(S)apostleship ^[f]to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), ⁹ and recognizing ^(T)the grace that had been given to me, ^[g](U)James and ^(V)Cephas and John, who were ^(W)reputed to be ^(X)pillars, gave to me and ^(Y)Barnabas the ^(Z)right ^[h]hand of fellowship, so that we might ^(AA)go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ They only asked us to remember the poor—^(AB)the very thing I also was eager to do.

Peter (Cephas) Opposed by Paul

¹¹ But when ^(AC)Cephas came to ^(AD)Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he ^[i]stood condemned. ¹² For prior to the coming of certain men from ^[j](AE)James, he used to ^(AF)eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, ^(AG)fearing ^[k]the party of the circumcision. ¹³ The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even ^(AH)Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that they ^(AI)were not ^[l]straightforward about ^(AJ)the truth of the gospel, I said to ^(AK)Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, ^(AL)live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? ^[m]

¹⁵ “We are ^(AM)Jews by nature and not ^(AN)sinners from among the Gentiles; ¹⁶ nevertheless knowing that ^(AO)a man is not justified by the works of ^[n]the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by ^(AP)faith in Christ and not by the works of ^[o]the Law; since ^(AQ)by the works of ^[p]the Law no ^[q]flesh will be justified. ¹⁷ But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found ^(AR)sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? ^(AS)May it never be! ¹⁸ For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I ^(AT)prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹ For through ^[r]the Law I ^(AU)died to ^[s]the Law, so that I might live to God. ²⁰ I have been ^(AV)crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but ^(AW)Christ lives in me; and ^[t]the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in ^(AX)the Son of God, who ^(AY)loved me and ^(AZ)gave Himself up for me. ²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God, for ^(BA)if righteousness comes through ^[u]the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

The Covenant in Moab

29 ^[a](A)These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the ^(B)covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

^2 [b]And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; ^3 (C)the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. ⁴ Yet to this day ^(D)the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. ⁵ I have led you forty years in the wilderness; ^(E)your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. ^6 (F)You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. ^7 (G)When you ^[c]reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we ^[d]defeated them; ⁸ and we took their land and ^(H)gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ^9 (I)So keep the words of this covenant to do them, ^(J)that you may prosper in all that you do.

¹⁰ “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from ^(K)the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, ¹² that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³ in order that He may establish you today as His people and that ^(L)He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴ “Now not with you alone am I ^(M)making this covenant and this oath, ^15 (N)but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today ¹⁶ (for 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 moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of ^(O)wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them); ^18 (P)so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you ^(Q)a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. ¹⁹ It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will ^[e]boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order ^[f]to destroy the watered land with the dry.’ ²⁰ The Lord shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and ^(R)His jealousy will ^[g](S)burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will ^[h]rest on him, and the Lord will ^(T)blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ Then the Lord will single him out for ^[i]adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant ^(U)which are written in this book of the law.

²² “Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and ^(V)the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the Lord has ^[j]afflicted it, will say, ²³ ‘All its land is ^(W)brimstone and salt, ^(X)a burning waste, ^[k]unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of ^(Y)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ ²⁴ All the nations will say, ‘^(Z)Why has the Lord done thus to this land? Why this great ^[l]outburst of anger?’ ²⁵ Then men will say, ‘^(AA)Because they forsook 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 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not ^[m]allotted to them. ²⁷ Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, ^(AB)to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; ²⁸ and ^(AC)the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

²⁹ “^(AD)The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but ^(AE)the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.