Daily Readings for April 27
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Deuteronomy 13

 

1.If there arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give you a sign or a wonder, 2.and the sign or the wonder come to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, "Let us go after other gods" (which you have not known) "and let us serve them;" 3.you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams: for Yahweh your God proves you, to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4.You shall walk after Yahweh your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cling to him. 5.That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which Yahweh your God commanded you to walk in. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.

6.If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," which you have not known, you, nor your fathers; 7.of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; 8.you shall not consent to him, nor listen to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him: 9.but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10.You shall stone him to death with stones, because he has sought to draw you away from Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 11.All Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall not do any more such wickedness as this is in the midst of you.

12.If you shall hear tell concerning one of your cities, which Yahweh your God gives you to dwell there, saying, 13.Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," which you have not known; 14.then you shall inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in the midst of you, 15.you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and its livestock, with the edge of the sword. 16.You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its street, and shall burn with fire the city, and all its spoil every whit, to Yahweh your God: and it shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again. 17.Nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to your hand; that Yahweh may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers; 18.when you shall listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.

 

Deuteronomy 14

 

1.You are the children of Yahweh your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 2.For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. 3.You shall not eat any abominable thing. 4.These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, 5.the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the ibex, and the antelope, and the chamois. 6.Every animal that parts the hoof, and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that may you eat. 7.Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of those who have the hoof cloven: the camel, and the hare, and the rabbit; because they chew the cud but don't part the hoof, they are unclean to you. 8.The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn't chew the cud, is unclean to you: of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. 9.These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales may you eat; 10.and whatever doesn't have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean to you. 11.Of all clean birds you may eat. 12.But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, and the vulture, and the osprey, 13.and the red kite, and the falcon, and the kite after its kind, 14.and every raven after its kind, 15.and the ostrich, and the owl, and the seagull, and the hawk after its kind, 16.the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl, 17.and the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant, 18.and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. 19.All winged creeping things are unclean to you: they shall not be eaten. 20.Of all clean birds you may eat. 21.You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you may give it to the foreigner living among you who is within your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner: for you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. 22.You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes forth from the field year by year. 23.You shall eat before Yahweh your God, in the place which he shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear Yahweh your God always. 24.If the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, because the place is too far from you, which Yahweh your God shall choose, to set his name there, when Yahweh your God shall bless you; 25.then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose: 26.and you shall bestow the money for whatever your soul desires, for cattle, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul asks of you; and you shall eat there before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 27.The Levite who is within your gates, you shall not forsake him; for he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 28.At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and shall lay it up within your gates: 29.and the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the foreigner living among you, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

 

Ecclesiastes 6

 

1.There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men: 2.a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

3.If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he: 4.for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. 5.Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has rest rather than the other. 6.Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don't all go to one place? 7.All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. 8.For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living? 9.Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind. 10.Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he. 11.For there are many words that create vanity. What does that profit man? 12.For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?

 

Acts 3

 

1.Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour⁹. 2.A certain man who was lame from his mother's womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the temple. 3.Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive gifts for the needy. 4.Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John, said, "Look at us." 5.He listened to them, expecting to receive something from them. 6.But Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!" 7.He took him by the right hand, and raised him up. Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength. 8.Leaping up, he stood, and began to walk. He entered with them into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God. 9.All the people saw him walking and praising God. 10.They recognized him, that it was he who used to sit begging for gifts for the needy at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11.As the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.

12.When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, "You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? 13.The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. 14.But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15.and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. 16.By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

17."Now, brothers¹⁰, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18.But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.

19."Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, 20.and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before, 21.whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets. 22.For Moses indeed said to the fathers, 'The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you. 23.It will be, that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.'¹¹ 24.Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days. 25.You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'In your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.'¹² 26.God, having raised up his servant, Jesus, sent him to you first, to bless you, in turning away everyone of you from your wickedness."

 

Acts 4

 

1.As they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came to them, 2.being upset because they taught the people and proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3.They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening. 4.But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

5.It happened in the morning, that their rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. 6.Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest. 7.When they had stood them in the middle of them, they inquired, "By what power, or in what name, have you done this?"

8.Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, 9.if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10.be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole. 11.He is 'the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.'¹³ 12.There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!"

13.Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14.Seeing the man who 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? Because indeed a notable miracle has been done through them, as can be plainly seen by all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we can't deny it. 17.But so that this spreads no further among the people, let's threaten them, that from now on they don't speak to anyone in this name." 18.They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

19.But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves, 20.for we can't help telling the things which we saw and heard."

21.When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone glorified God for that which was done. 22.For the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

23.Being let go, they came to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24.When they heard it, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, "O Lord, you are God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them; 25.who by the mouth of your servant, David, said, 'Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? 26.The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take council together, against the Lord, and against his Christ¹⁴.'¹⁵

27."For truly, in this city against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28.to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to happen. 29.Now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 30.while you stretch out your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy Servant Jesus."

31.When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were gathered together. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. 32.The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33.With great power, the apostles gave their testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was on them all. 34.For neither was there among them any who lacked, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35.and laid them at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made to each, according as anyone had need. 36.Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, Son of Encouragement), a Levite, a man of Cyprus by race, 37.having a field, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

 

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