Chapter 23^[a]

Joshua’s Final Discourse. ¹ Quite some time later, after the Lord had given Israel rest from all of its surrounding enemies, and when Joshua had grown old and was well advanced in years, ² Joshua summoned all of Israel including its leaders and officials, their judges and their officers, and he said to them, “I am now an old man, well advanced in years ³ and you have seen all that the Lord, your God, has done to all of these nations on your behalf, for the Lord, your God, has fought for you. ⁴ I have divided up by lot these remaining nations as an inheritance for your tribes, all the nations that I have conquered between the Jordan and the Great Sea to the west. ⁵ The Lord, your God, himself will drive them out before you. He will push them out of your sight so that you can take possession of the land that the Lord, your God, has promised you. ⁶ Be most courageous, and be careful to observe everything that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses. Do not turn away from it to the right or the left. ⁷ Avoid associating with these nations that still remain among you. Do not mention the names of their gods; do not swear by them. Do not serve them; do not worship them. ⁸ Hold fast to the Lord, your God,^[b] as you have done up to the present. ⁹ The Lord has driven out great and powerful nations from before you. To this day no one has been able to stand up against you. ¹⁰ Just one of you has been able to route a thousand, because the Lord, your God, has fought for you, just as he promised you that he would do. ¹¹ So be very careful to love the Lord, your God.

^12 [c]“But if you were to turn away and you were to ally yourselves with the survivors of the nations that remain here, and you were to intermarry with them, and you were to associate with them, ¹³ then you should know for sure that the Lord, your God, will no longer drive out these nations before you. They will be like snares and traps to you, as if they were scourges upon your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you finally vanish from this good land that the Lord, your God, has given you.

¹⁴ “I am now about to go the way of all upon the earth. You know very well in your hearts and your souls that not one of the good things that the Lord, your God, promised you has failed to take place. Every promise has been fulfilled, not one of them has been broken. ¹⁵ Just as all the good things that the Lord, your God, has promised you have come true, so the Lord could bring upon you all the evil that he has threatened until he has wiped you out from this good land that the Lord, your God, has given you. ¹⁶ If you transgress the covenant that the Lord, your God, has commanded you to observe, and you go and serve other gods and worship them, then the Lord’s anger will blaze out against you. You will quickly perish from the good land that the Lord, your God, has given you.”

Chapter 11

Peter’s Explanation of Cornelius’ Baptism. ¹ The apostles and the brethren in Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God. ² Therefore, when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers protested to him, ³ saying, “Why did you enter the house of uncircumcised men and eat with them?”

⁴ Peter replied by explaining the facts to them step by step, saying, ⁵ “While I was praying one day in the city of Joppa, I fell into a trance and had a vision. I saw something like a large sheet lowered down from heaven by its four corners, and it landed close to me.

⁶ “I looked into it carefully and observed four-footed animals, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds. ⁷ I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!’ ⁸ But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord. For nothing profane or unclean has ever been in my mouth.’ ⁹ But the voice spoke to me from heaven for a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and then everything was taken up into heaven again.

¹¹ “At that very moment, three men arrived at the house where we were staying. They had been sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² The Spirit instructed me to go with them without any hesitation. These six brethren also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house who said, ‘Send to Joppa and ask for Simon who is also called Peter. ¹⁴ He will give you a message that will grant salvation to you and your entire household.’

¹⁵ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit descended upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning, ¹⁶ and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to oppose God?”

¹⁸ When they heard this, they held their peace, and they praised God, saying, “God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

¹⁹ A Church at Antioch.^[a] Meanwhile, those who had scattered after the persecution that arose because of Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia,^[b] Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word only to Jews. ²⁰ However, among them there were some natives of Cyprus and Cyrene who went to Antioch where they started preaching also to the Greeks, proclaiming to them the good news of the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of them became believers and turned to the Lord.

²² News of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he arrived and perceived the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord with resolute devotion, ²⁴ for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith. And a large number of people were added to the Lord.

²⁵ Barnabas then went to Tarsus^[c] to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

Threats against the Church^[d]

²⁷ A Famine in the World.^[e] During these days, some prophets^[f] came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a severe famine would afflict the entire world. This in fact occurred during the reign of Claudius. ²⁹ The disciples decided to send relief to the brethren living in Judea, each according to his means. ³⁰ This they did, delivering it to the elders^[g] through Barnabas and Saul.