diff --git a/45-ACT.usfm b/45-ACT.usfm index 205f6a8e..0ffa6cae 100644 --- a/45-ACT.usfm +++ b/45-ACT.usfm @@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ \p \v 12 Then after the two angels left, the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which was a short distance from Jerusalem. \v 13 After they entered the city, they went into the upstairs room in the house where they were staying. Those who were there included Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, another James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of another man named James. -\v 14 All these apostles began to pray together all the time. Others who prayed with them included the women who had been with Jesus, Mary who was Jesus' mother, and his younger brothers. +\v 14 All these apostles began to pray together all the time. Others who prayed with them included the women who had been with Jesus, and Mary who was Jesus' mother, as well as his brothers, who were all younger than he was. \s5 \p @@ -124,11 +124,11 @@ \p \v 29 Peter continued, "My fellow Jews, I am sure that our forefather, King David, died, and that the people buried him. And the place where they buried his body is still here today. \v 30 King David was a prophet and he knew that God promised to him that one of his descendants would become king. -\v 31 A long time ago, David knew what God would do. He said that God would cause the Christ to live again after he died. God would not allow him to remain in a grave, and he would not let his body waste away." +\v 31 A long time ago, David knew what God would do. He said that God would cause the Christ to live again after he died. God would not allow him to remain in a grave, and he would not let his body waste away. \s5 \p -\v 32 "After this man Jesus had died, God caused him to become alive again. All of us, his followers, know this because we saw him. +\v 32 After this man Jesus had died, God caused him to become alive again. All of us, his followers, know this because we saw him. \v 33 God has greatly honored Jesus by placing him at his right hand to rule with him, his Father. He has given us the Holy Spirit, and that is what you are seeing and hearing here today. \s5 @@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ \s5 \v 15 God considers that you killed Jesus, the one who gives people eternal life. But God has caused him to become alive again. We saw Jesus many times after he became alive again. -\v 16 It is because this man trusts in Jesus that he is strong again and able to walk in front of you all." +\v 16 It is because of faith in the name of Jesus that this man was made strong again and able to walk in front of you all, and as you see, he is in perfect health." \s5 \p @@ -208,12 +208,12 @@ \s5 \v 21 Jesus will certainly stay in heaven until the time when God will cause all that he has created to become new. Long ago God promised to do that, and he chose holy prophets to tell that to people. \v 22 For example, the prophet Moses said this about the Christ: 'The Lord your God will send a prophet like me from among you. You must listen to everything he says to you. -\v 23 Those who do not listen to that prophet and obey him will no longer belong to God's people, and God will destroy them.'" +\v 23 Those who do not listen to that prophet, and do not obey him, will no longer belong to God's people. God will destroy them.'" \s5 \v 24 Peter continued, "All the prophets have told about what would happen during these days. Those prophets include Samuel and all the others who later also spoke about these events before they happened. \v 25 When God strongly promised to bless our ancestors, he also surely promised to bless you. He said to Abraham about the Christ, 'I will bless all the people groups on the earth as a result of what your descendant will do.'" -\v 26 Peter concluded, "So when God sent Jesus, his servant, and he sent him first to you Israelites to bless you, in order to stop you doing what is wicked." +\v 26 Peter concluded, "So when God sent Jesus, his servant, he sent him first to you Israelites to bless you, in order to stop you doing what is wicked." \s5 @@ -284,11 +284,11 @@ \s5 \p \v 27 It is true! Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the non-Jews and the Israelite people, came in this city against Jesus, the one you chose to serve you, O Lord. -\v 28 You allowed them to do this because it was what you decided long ago would happen." +\v 28 You allowed them to do this because it was what you decided long ago would happen. \s5 \p -\v 29 "So now, Lord, listen to what they are saying about how they will punish us! Help us who serve you to speak about Jesus to everyone! +\v 29 So now, Lord, listen to what they are saying about how they will punish us! Help us who serve you to speak about Jesus to everyone! \v 30 Use your power to do great miracles of healing, signs and wonders in the name of your holy servant, Jesus!" @@ -445,25 +445,23 @@ \v 3 God said to him, 'Leave this land where you and your relatives are living, and go into the land which I will direct you to.' \s5 -\v 4 So Abraham left that land, which was also called Chaldea, and he arrived in Haran and lived there. After his father died, God told him to move to this land in which you and I are now living. \p +\v 4 So Abraham left that land, which was also called Chaldea, and he arrived in Haran and lived there. After his father died, God told him to move to this land in which you and I are now living. \v 5 At that time God did not give Abraham any land to own here, not even a small plot of this land. But God promised that he would later give this land to him and his descendants, and that it would always belong to them. However, at that time Abraham did not have any children who would inherit it. \s5 -\p \v 6 Later God told Abraham, 'Your descendants will go and live in a foreign country. They will live there for four hundred years, and during that time their leaders will mistreat your descendants and force them to work as slaves. \v 7 'But I will punish the people who make them work as slaves. After that, your descendants will leave that land, and they will come and worship me in this land.' -\p -\v 8 Then God commanded that every male in Abraham's household and all of his male descendants should be circumcised to show that they all belonged to God. Later Abraham's son, Isaac, was born, and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. Later Isaac's son, Jacob, was born. Jacob was the father of the twelve men whom we Jews call the patriarchs, our forefathers. +\v 8 Then God commanded that every male in Abraham's household and all of his male descendants should be circumcised to show that they all belonged to God. Later Abraham's son, Isaac, was born, and on the eighth day of Isaac's life, Abraham circumcised him. Later Isaac's son, Jacob, was born. Jacob was the father of the twelve men whom we Jews call the patriarchs, our forefathers. \s5 \p -\v 9 You know that Jacob's older sons became jealous because their father favored their younger brother Joseph. So they sold him to merchants, who took him to Egypt, where he became a slave. But God helped Joseph; +\v 9 "You know that Jacob's older sons became jealous because their father favored their younger brother Joseph. So they sold him to merchants, who took him to Egypt, where he became a slave. But God helped Joseph; \v 10 He protected him whenever people caused him to suffer. He enabled Joseph to be wise, and he caused Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to think well of Joseph. So Pharaoh appointed him to rule over Egypt and to look after all of Pharaoh's property. \s5 \p -\v 11 While Joseph was doing that work, there was a time when there was very little food in Egypt and also in Canaan. People were suffering. At that time Jacob and his sons in Canaan also could not find enough food. +\v 11 "While Joseph was doing that work, there was a time when there was very little food in Egypt and also in Canaan. People were suffering. At that time Jacob and his sons in Canaan also could not find enough food. \v 12 When Jacob heard people report that there was grain that people could buy in Egypt, he sent Joseph's older brothers to go there to buy grain. They went and bought grain from Joseph, but they did not recognize him. Then they returned home. \v 13 When Joseph's brothers went to Egypt the second time, they again bought grain from Joseph. But this time he told them who he was. And so Pharaoh learned that Joseph's people were Hebrews and that those men who had come from Canaan were his brothers. @@ -474,19 +472,19 @@ \s5 \p -\v 17 Our ancestors had become very numerous when it was almost time for God to rescue them from Egypt, as he had promised Abraham that he would do. +\v 17 "Our ancestors had become very numerous when it was almost time for God to rescue them from Egypt, as he had promised Abraham that he would do. \v 18 Another king had begun to rule in Egypt. He did not know that Joseph had greatly helped the people of Egypt, long before his own time. \v 19 That king cruelly tried to get rid of our ancestors. He oppressed them and caused them to suffer greatly. He even commanded them to throw their newborn babies outside their homes so that they would die. \s5 \p -\v 20 During that time Moses was born, and God saw that he was a very beautiful child. So his parents secretly cared for him in their house for three months. +\v 20 "During that time Moses was born, and God saw that he was a very beautiful child. So his parents secretly cared for him in their house for three months. \v 21 Then they had to put him outside the house, but Pharaoh's daughter found him and cared for him as though he were her own son. \s5 \v 22 Moses was taught all the learning that the people in Egypt knew, and when he grew up, he spoke and did things powerfully. \p -\v 23 One day when Moses was about forty years old, he decided that he would go and visit his relatives, the Israelites. +\v 23 "One day when Moses was about forty years old, he decided that he would go and visit his relatives, the Israelites. \v 24 He saw an Egyptian mistreating one of the Israelites. So he went over to help the Israelite man, and he avenged the Israelite man by killing the Egyptian. \v 25 Moses thought that his fellow Israelites would understand that God had sent him to free them from being slaves. But they did not understand. @@ -498,7 +496,7 @@ \s5 \v 29 When Moses heard that, he fled from Egypt to Midian land. He lived there for some years. He got married, and he and his wife had two sons. \p -\v 30 One day forty years later, the Lord God appeared as an angel to Moses. He appeared in the flame of a bush that was burning in the desert near Mount Sinai. +\v 30 "One day forty years later, the Lord God appeared as an angel to Moses. He appeared in the flame of a bush that was burning in the desert near Mount Sinai. \s5 \v 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed, because the bush was not burning up. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord God say to him, @@ -510,22 +508,22 @@ \s5 \p -\v 35 This Moses is the one who had tried to help our Israelite people, but whom they rejected by saying, 'No one appointed you ruler and judge!' Moses is the one whom God himself sent to rule them and to free them from being slaves. He is the one whom an angel in the bush commanded to do that. +\v 35 "This Moses is the one who had tried to help our Israelite people, but whom they rejected by saying, 'No one appointed you ruler and judge!' Moses is the one whom God himself sent to rule them and to free them from being slaves. He is the one whom an angel in the bush commanded to do that. \v 36 Moses is the one who led our ancestors out from Egypt. He did many kinds of miracles in Egypt in order to show that God was with him, at the Sea of Reeds, and during the forty years that the Israelite people lived in the wilderness. \v 37 This Moses is the one who said to the Israelite people, 'God will cause another man from among your own people to be a prophet like me for you.' \s5 \v 38 It was this man Moses who was among the Israelites who were together in the wilderness; he was with the angel who had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. It is Moses to whom God had the angel on Mount Sinai give him our laws, and he was the one who told our ancestors what the angel had said. He was the one who received from God words that tell us how to live eternally and passed them on to us. \p -\v 39 However, our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. Instead, they rejected him as their leader and wanted to return to Egypt. +\v 39 "However, our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. Instead, they rejected him as their leader and wanted to return to Egypt. \v 40 So they told his older brother Aaron, 'Make idols for us who will be our gods to lead us. As for that fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!' \s5 \v 41 So they made an image that looked like a calf. Then they offered sacrifices to honor that idol, and they sang and danced because of what they themselves had made. \v 42 So God stopped correcting them. He abandoned them to worship the sun, moon and stars in the sky. This agrees with the words that one of the prophets wrote: -\q God said, 'You Israelite people, when you repeatedly killed animals and offered them as sacrifices during those forty years that you were in the wilderness, were you offering them to me? +\q 'God said, "You Israelite people, when you repeatedly killed animals and offered them as sacrifices during those forty years that you were in the wilderness, were you offering them to me? \s5 -\v 43 On the contrary, you carried with you from place to place the tent that contained the idol representing the god Molech that you worshiped. You also carried with you the image of the star called Rephan. Those were idols that you had made, and you worshiped them instead of me. So I will cause you to be taken away far from your homes to regions even farther than Babylon country.' +\v 43 On the contrary, you carried with you from place to place the tent that contained the idol representing the god Molech that you worshiped. You also carried with you the image of the star called Rephan. Those were idols that you had made, and you worshiped them instead of me. So I will cause you to be taken away far from your homes to regions even farther than Babylon country."' \s5 \p @@ -534,11 +532,11 @@ \v 46 David pleased God, and he asked God to let him build a house where he and all of our Israelite people could worship God. \s5 -\v 47 But instead, God told David's son Solomon to build a house where people could worship him." +\v 47 But instead, God told David's son Solomon to build a house where people could worship him. \p \v 48 "However, we know that God is greater than everything, and he does not live in houses that people have made. It is like the prophet Isaiah wrote: \q -\v 49-50 God said, "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. I myself have made everything both in heaven and on the earth. So you human beings cannot make a place good enough for me to live in!" +\v 49-50 'God said, "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. I myself have made everything both in heaven and on the earth. So you human beings cannot make a place good enough for me to live in!"' \s5 \p @@ -576,12 +574,12 @@ \p \v 4 The believers who had left Jerusalem went to different places, where they continued preaching the message about Jesus. -\v 5 One of those believers whose name was Philip went down from Jerusalem to a city in the district of Samaria. There he was telling the people that Jesus is the Christ. +\v 5 One of those believers, whose name was Philip, went down from Jerusalem to a city in the district of Samaria. There he was telling the people that Jesus is the Christ. \s5 \v 6 Many people there heard Philip speak and saw the miraculous things that he was doing. So they all paid close attention to his words. \v 7 For example, Philip commanded evil spirits to come out of many people, and they came out screaming. Also, many people who were paralyzed and many others who were lame were healed. -\v 8 So many people in that city greatly rejoiced. +\v 8 So, because of those miracles that had been done, many people in that city greatly rejoiced. \s5 @@ -589,7 +587,7 @@ \p \v 9 There was a man in that city whose name was Simon. He had been practicing sorcery for a long time, and he amazed the people in the district of Samaria with his magic. He claimed he was "Simon the Great One!" \v 10 All the people there, both ordinary and important people, listened to him. They were saying, "This man is the Great Power of God." -\v 11 They continued to listen to him carefully, because for a long time he had astonished them by practicing sorcery. +\v 11 Many people continued to listen to him carefully. For a long time he had astonished them by practicing sorcery. \s5 \v 12 But then they believed Philip's message about the good news about when God would show himself as king and about Jesus Christ. The men and the women who believed in Jesus were baptized. @@ -625,8 +623,8 @@ \s5 \p \v 26 One day an angel whom the Lord God had sent commanded Philip, "Get ready and go south along the road that extends from Jerusalem to the city of Gaza." That was a road in a desert area. -\v 27 So Philip got ready and went along that road. On the road he met a man from the land of Ethiopia. He was an important official who took care of all the funds for the queen of Ethiopia. In his language people called their queen Candace. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship God, -\v 28 and he was returning home and was seated riding in his chariot. As he was riding, he was reading aloud in the book of the prophet Isaiah. +\v 27 So Philip got ready and went along that road. On the road he met a man from the land of Ethiopia. He was an important official who took care of all the funds for the Candace, the queen of Ethiopia. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship God. +\v 28 After that, while he was traveling home and was sitting in his chariot, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. \s5 \p @@ -653,7 +651,7 @@ \v 38 So the official told the driver to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. \s5 -\v 39 When they came up out of the water, suddenly God's Spirit took Philip away. The official never saw Philip again. But although he never saw Philip again, the official continued going along the road, very happy. +\v 39 When they came up out of the water, suddenly God's Spirit took Philip away. The official never saw Philip again. Although he never saw Philip again, the official continued going along the road, very happy. \p \v 40 Philip then realized that the Spirit had miraculously taken him to the town of Azotus. While he traveled around in that region, he continued proclaiming the message about Jesus in all the towns between the cities of Azotus and Caesarea. And he was still proclaiming it when he finally arrived in Caesarea. @@ -874,8 +872,8 @@ \c 11 \p \v 1 The apostles and other believers who lived in various towns in the province of Judea heard people say that some non-Jewish people had also believed the message of God about Jesus. -\v 2 But there were some Jewish believers in Jerusalem who wanted all followers of Christ to be circumcized. When Peter returned from Caesarea to Jerusalem, they met with him and criticized him. -\v 3 They said to him, "Not only was it wrong for you to visit in the homes of uncircumcized non-Jews, you even ate with them!" +\v 2 But there were some Jewish believers in Jerusalem who wanted all followers of Christ to be circumcised. When Peter returned from Caesarea to Jerusalem, they met with him and criticized him. +\v 3 They said to him, "Not only was it wrong for you to visit in the homes of uncircumcised non-Jews, you even ate with them!" \s5 \p diff --git a/46-ROM.usfm b/46-ROM.usfm index f89d966a..a935ec75 100644 --- a/46-ROM.usfm +++ b/46-ROM.usfm @@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ \p \v 25 Any one of you who is circumcised to show that he belongs to God can benefit from that if he obeys the law that he gave to Moses. But if you, a circumcised person, disobey the law, God will consider you to be no better in God's sight than someone who is not circumcised. \v 26 This means that God will certainly consider that even non-Jews who are not circumcised can become his people if they obey the things that he commanded in his laws. -\v 27 These people, who are not circumcised but who still obey God's laws, will declare that God is right when he punishes you, for you are circumcized but still break the law. +\v 27 These people, who are not circumcised but who still obey God's laws, will declare that God is right when he punishes you, for you are circumcised but still break the law. \s5 \v 28 It is not those who perform rituals for God who are true Jews, and it is not being circumcised in their bodies that causes God to accept them. \v 29 On the contrary, we whom God has changed inwardly are the true Jews. God has accepted us and God's Spirit has changed our nature, not because we perform the rituals commanded by the law. Even if other people will not praise us, God will praise us.