Covenant Blessings, Judgment, and Stephen's Bold Witness

1. “‘You shall make for yourselves no idols, and you shall not raise up a carved image or a pillar, and you shall not place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am Yahweh your God. 2. “‘You shall keep my Sabbaths, and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am Yahweh. 3. “‘If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4. then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5. Your threshing shall reach to the vintage, and the vintage shall reach to the sowing time. You shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6. “‘I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one will make you afraid. I will remove evil animals out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 7. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9. “‘I will have respect for you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you. 10. You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new. 11. I will set my tent among you, and my soul won’t abhor you. 12. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people. 13. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright. 14. “‘But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments; 15. and if you shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant; 16. I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it. 17. I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you; and you will flee when no one pursues you. 18. “‘If you in spite of these things will not listen to me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins. 19. I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your sky like iron, and your soil like brass. 20. Your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won’t yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit. 21. “‘If you walk contrary to me, and won’t listen to me, then I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins. 22. I will send the wild animals among you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number. Your roads will become desolate. 23. “‘If by these things you won’t be reformed to me, but will walk contrary to me; 24. then I will also walk contrary to you; and I will strike you, even I, seven times for your sins. 25. I will bring a sword upon you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. You will be gathered together within your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you. You will be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26. When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight. You shall eat, and not be satisfied. 27. “‘If you in spite of this won’t listen to me, but walk contrary to me; 28. then I will walk contrary to you in wrath. I will also chastise you seven times for your sins. 29. You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters. 30. I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you. 31. I will lay your cities waste, and will bring your sanctuaries to desolation. I will not take delight in the sweet fragrance of your offerings. 32. I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies that dwell therein will be astonished at it. 33. I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. 34. Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land. Even then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. 35. As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it didn’t have in your Sabbaths, when you lived on it. 36. “‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues. 37. They will stumble over one another, as it were before the sword, when no one pursues. You will have no power to stand before your enemies. 38. You will perish among the nations. The land of your enemies will eat you up. 39. Those of you who are left will pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers they shall pine away with them. 40. “‘If they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary to me, 41. I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity; 42. then I will remember my covenant with Jacob; and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land. 43. The land also will be left by them, and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them: and they will accept the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God; 45. but I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am Yahweh.’” 46. These are the statutes, ordinances and laws, which Yahweh made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses. 1. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2. “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When a man consecrates a person to Yahweh in a vow, according to your valuation, 3. your valuation of a male from twenty years old even to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. 4. If she is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5. If the person is from five years old even to twenty years old, then your valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 6. If the person is from a month old even to five years old, then your valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver. 7. If the person is from sixty years old and upward; if he is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 8. But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall assign a value to him. The priest shall assign a value according to his ability to pay. 9. “‘If it is an animal, of which men offer an offering to Yahweh, all that any man gives of such to Yahweh becomes holy. 10. He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall at all change animal for animal, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy. 11. If it is any unclean animal, of which they do not offer as an offering to Yahweh, then he shall set the animal before the priest; 12. and the priest shall value it, whether it is good or bad. As you the priest values it, so shall it be. 13. But if he will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of it to its valuation. 14. “‘When a man dedicates his house to be holy to Yahweh, then the priest shall evaluate it, whether it is good or bad: as the priest shall evaluate it, so shall it stand. 15. If he who dedicates it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall be his. 16. “‘If a man dedicates to Yahweh part of the field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it. The sowing of a homer of barley shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17. If he dedicates his field from the Year of Jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand. 18. But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the money according to the years that remain to the Year of Jubilee; and an abatement shall be made from your valuation. 19. If he who dedicated the field will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall remain his. 20. If he will not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more; 21. but the field, when it goes out in the Jubilee, shall be holy to Yahweh, as a devoted field. It shall be owned by the priests. 22. “‘If he dedicates a field to Yahweh which he has bought, which is not of the field of his possession, 23. then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of your valuation up to the Year of Jubilee; and he shall give your valuation on that day, as a holy thing to Yahweh. 24. In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land belongs. 25. All your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel. 26. “‘Only the firstborn among animals, which is made Yahweh’s firstborn, no man may dedicate; whether an ox or a sheep. It is Yahweh’s. 27. If it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back according to your valuation, and shall add to it the fifth part of it; or if it isn’t redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation. 28. “‘Notwithstanding, no devoted thing, that a man shall devote to Yahweh of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed. Everything devoted to destruction is most holy to Yahweh. 29. “‘No one devoted, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death. 30. “‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh’s. It is holy to Yahweh. 31. If a man redeems anything of his tithe, he shall add a fifth part to it. 32. All the tithe of the herds or the flocks, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to Yahweh. 33. He shall not search whether it is good or bad, neither shall he change it. If he changes it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.’” 34. These are the commandments which Yahweh commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.

1. The high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2. He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3. and said to him, ‘Get out of your land, and from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’ 4. Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living. 5. He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child. 6. God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 7. ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that will they come out, and serve me in this place.’ 8. He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. 9. “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him, 10. and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11. Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. 12. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. 13. On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s race was revealed to Pharaoh. 14. Joseph sent, and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. 15. Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, himself and our fathers, 16. and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem. 17. “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18. until there arose a different king, who didn’t know Joseph. 19. The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive. 20. At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father’s house. 21. When he was thrown out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son. 22. Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works. 23. But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24. Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. 25. He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand. 26. “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’ 27. But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28. Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29. Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 30. “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him, 32. ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled, and dared not look. 33. The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34. I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’ 35. “This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36. This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37. This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’ 38. This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us, 39. to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40. saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ 41. They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42. But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43. You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’ 44. “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; 45. which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David, 46. who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. 47. But Solomon built him a house. 48. However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says, 49. ‘heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord. ‘Or what is the place of my rest? 50. Didn’t my hand make all these things?’ 51. “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. 52. Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. 53. You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!” 54. Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56. and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57. But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord. 58. They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59. They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60. He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep. 1. Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. 2. Devout men buried Stephen, and lamented greatly over him. 3. But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison. 4. Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word. 5. Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6. The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he did. 7. For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. 8. There was great joy in that city. 9. But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city, and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one, 10. to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of God.” 11. They listened to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries. 12. But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning God’s Kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13. Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed. 14. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15. who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; 16. for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. 17. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18. Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19. saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20. But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21. You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God. 22. Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23. For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” 24. Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.” 25. They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans. 26. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert.” 27. He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship. 28. He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29. The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.” 30. Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31. He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him. 32. Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn’t open his mouth. 33. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth.” 34. The eunuch answered Philip, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?” 35. Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus. 36. As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?” 37. 38. He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing. 40. But Philip was found at Azotus. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea. 1. But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2. and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3. As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him. 4. He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5. He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6. But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7. The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the sound, but seeing no one. 8. Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. 9. He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank. 10. Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” He said, “Behold, it’s me, Lord.” 11. The Lord said to him, “Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judah for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying, 12. and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in, and laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight.” 13. But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem. 14. Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15. But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel. 16. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” 17. Ananias departed, and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me, that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18. Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized. 19. He took food and was strengthened. Saul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus. 20. Immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed the Christ, that he is the Son of God. 21. All who heard him were amazed, and said, “Isn’t this he who in Jerusalem made havoc of those who called on this name? And he had come here intending to bring them bound before the chief priests!” 22. But Saul increased more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ. 23. When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him, 24. but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him, 25. but his disciples took him by night, and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket. 26. When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. 28. He was with them entering into Jerusalem, 29. preaching boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus. He spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him. 30. When the brothers knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off to Tarsus. 31. So the assemblies throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. 32. As Peter went throughout all those parts, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. 33. There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed. 34. Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!” Immediately he arose. 35. All who lived at Lydda and in Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. 36. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which when translated, means Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and acts of mercy which she did. 37. In those days, she became sick, and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38. As Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. 39. Peter got up and went with them. When he had come, they brought him into the upper room. All the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40. Peter sent them all out, and knelt down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. 41. He gave her his hand, and raised her up. Calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43. He stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.

1. I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth. 2. My soul shall boast in Yahweh. The humble shall hear of it, and be glad. 3. Oh magnify Yahweh with me. Let us exalt his name together. 4. I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. 5. They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame. 6. This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 7. Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8. Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. 9. Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him. 10. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing. 11. Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh. 12. Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? 13. Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies. 14. Depart from evil, and do good. seek peace, and pursue it. 15. Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry. 16. Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth. 17. The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18. Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit. 19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all. 20. He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken. 21. Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. 22. Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.