Acts 6:2–3

⁹¶ And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:

¹⁰The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.

¹¹(The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)

¹²How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?

¹³Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.

¹⁴And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.

¹⁷And Moses’ father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.

¹⁸Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

¹⁹Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God:

²⁰And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.

²¹Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:

²²And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.

²³If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.

²⁴So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said.

²⁵And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

²⁶And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

⁴No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

³And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

¹¹And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?

¹²Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?

¹³Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.

²²What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.

²⁷For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him.

¹⁹But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

⁷Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

⁸Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;

⁹Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

¹⁰And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.

¹¹Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

¹²Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

¹³For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:

¹⁵But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

¹³Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.

¹⁷But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

¹⁸And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

¹⁰Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.

¹⁸¶ And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;

¹⁹And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.

²As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

³And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

¹²Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.

³⁸And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?

³⁹And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:

¹⁶¶ And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.

¹⁷And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

¹⁸And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.

¹⁹Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;

²⁰But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?

²¹And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.

²²Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?

²³And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord’s hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.

²⁴¶ And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle.

²⁵And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

³And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.

¹⁴We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

¹⁵Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

¹⁹And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind:

²⁰Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us:

²¹Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

²¹Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

²²And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.

⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

¹²And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,

⁶Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

¹⁸And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

²And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;

³And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

⁴But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

⁵And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

²⁶For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

⁶And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

⁷I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.

⁸But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

⁸But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

⁸For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

²³And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:

²Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.

³⁰Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Cæsarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.