Joshua’s Charge to Israel’s Leaders
1 A long time afterward, when the Lord had given arest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and bJoshua was old and well advanced in years, 2 cJoshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and dofficers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years. 3 And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has efought for you. 4 Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes fthose nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. 5 gThe Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, hjust as the Lord your God promised you. 6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to ido all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, jturning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not kmix with these nations remaining among you or lmake mention of the names of their gods or mswear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall ncling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. 9 For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, ono man has been able to stand before you to this day. 10 pOne man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, qjust as he promised you. 11 Be very careful, therefore, to rlove the Lord your God. 12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the Lord your God will sno longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a tsnare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.
14 “And now uI am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that vnot one word has failed of all the good things1 that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as wall the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you xall the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish yquickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”
James Killed and Peter Imprisoned
1 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 sHe killed James the brother of John with the sword, 3 and when he saw that it tpleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 And when he had seized him, he put him in uprison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. 5 vSo Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
Peter Is Rescued
6 Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. 7 And behold, an wangel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He xstruck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the ychains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a zvision. 10 When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It aopened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. 11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. 13 And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a bservant girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is chis angel!” 16 But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.”1 Then he departed and went to another place.
18 Now when day came, dthere was no little edisturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. 19 And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.
The Death of Herod
20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain,2 they asked for peace, fbecause their country depended on the king’s country for food. 21 On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. 22 And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
24 But the gword of God increased and multiplied.
25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from3 Jerusalem when they had completed their hservice, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.
