As they went through the towns, ¹  they passed on ²  the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem ³  for the Gentile believers ⁴  to obey. ⁵ 

Now Ezra had dedicated himself ¹  to the study of the law of the Lord, to its observance, and to teaching ²  its statutes and judgments in Israel.

When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ¹  –

It was a night of vigil for the Lord to bring them out from the land of Egypt, ¹  and so ²  on this night all Israel is to keep the vigil ³  to the Lord for generations to come.

Thus ¹  you will remember and obey all my commandments and be holy to your God.

For we consider that a person ¹  is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law. ² 

But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, ¹  I demonstrate that I am one who breaks God’s law. ² 

When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe ¹  this ceremony.

It will be for a sign on your hand and for frontlets ¹  on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” ² 

and so cause them to incur a penalty for guilt ¹  when they eat their holy offerings, ²  for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”

On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.

I gave them my statutes ¹  and revealed my regulations to them. The one ²  who carries ³  them out will live by them! ⁴ 

I ¹  was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my nation, ²  and was ³  extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. ⁴ 

I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. ¹ 

¹  It ²  will be a sign ³  for you on your hand and a memorial ⁴  on your forehead, ⁵  so that the law of the Lord may be ⁶  in your mouth, ⁷  for ⁸  with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.

take them and purify ¹  yourself along with them and pay their expenses, ²  so that they may have their heads shaved. ³  Then ⁴  everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told ⁵  about you, but that you yourself live in conformity with ⁶  the law. ⁷ 

They have been informed about you – that you teach all the Jews now living ¹  among the Gentiles to abandon ²  Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children ³  or live ⁴  according to our customs.

When ¹  the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, ²  then you will keep ³  this ceremony ⁴  in this month.

He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, ¹  a holy Sabbath ²  to the Lord. Whatever you want to ³  bake, bake today; ⁴  whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”

And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹  will live. They boldly turned from you; ²  they rebelled ³  and did not obey.