Religious Laws. 10The LORD said: Here is the covenant I will make. Before all your people I will perform marvels never before done^* in any nation anywhere on earth, so that all the people among whom you live may see the work of the LORD. Awe-inspiring are the deeds I will perform with you! 11As for you, observe what I am commanding you today.^d

See, I am about to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12^e Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land that you are to enter; lest they become a snare among you. 13Tear down their altars; smash their sacred stones, and cut down their asherahs.^* 14You shall not bow down to any other god, for the LORD—“Jealous”^* his name—is a jealous God. 15Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land; else, when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to them, one of them may invite you and you may partake of the sacrifice. 16And when you take their daughters as wives for your sons, and their daughters prostitute themselves with their gods, they will make your sons do the same.

17You shall not make for yourselves molten gods.^f

4The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because that was the great high place. Upon its altar Solomon sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings. 5In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said: Whatever you ask I shall give you. 6Solomon answered: “You have shown great kindness to your servant, David my father, because he walked before you with fidelity, justice, and an upright heart; and you have continued this great kindness toward him today, giving him a son to sit upon his throne. 7Now, LORD, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed David my father; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act— 8I, your servant, among the people you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. 9Give your servant, therefore, a listening heart to judge your people and to distinguish between good and evil. For who is able to give judgment for this vast people of yours?”

10The Lord was pleased by Solomon’s request. 11So God said to him: Because you asked for this—you did not ask for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies—but you asked for discernment to know what is right— 12I now do as you request. I give you a heart so wise and discerning that there has never been anyone like you until now, nor after you will there be anyone to equal you. 13^b In addition, I give you what you have not asked for: I give you such riches and glory that among kings there will be no one like you all your days. 14And if you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and commandments, as David your father did, I will give you a long life. 15Solomon awoke; it was a dream! He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, sacrificed burnt offerings and communion offerings, and gave a feast for all his servants.

Peter’s Speech.^* 34Then Peter proceeded to speak and said,^* “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.^j 35Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him. 36^* You know the word [that] he sent to the Israelites^* as he proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all,^k 37what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached,^l 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth^* with the holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.^m 39We are witnesses^* of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and [in] Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. 40This man God raised [on] the third day and granted that he be visible, 41not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.ⁿ 42He commissioned us^o to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.^* 43To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

The Appearance to the Disciples in Jerusalem. 36^* While they were still speaking about this,^r he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”^s 37But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.^t 38Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? 39^* Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” 40^u And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42They gave him a piece of baked fish;^v 43he took it and ate it in front of them.

44He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”^w 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.^x 46^* And he said to them,^y “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day 47and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.^z 48You are witnesses of these things.^a 49And [behold] I am sending the promise of my Father^* upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”^b

The Faithful or the Unfaithful Servant.^* 45^u “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time?^* 46Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. 47Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. 48^* But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’ 49and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, 50the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour 51^v and will punish him severely^* and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.