³ When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews,^(A) he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.^(B)

¹⁵ “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread;^(A) for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv,^(B) for in that month you came out of Egypt.

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.^(C)

²⁷ When two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus,^(A) but because Felix wanted to grant a favor to the Jews,^(B) he left Paul in prison.^(C)

⁴³ for they loved human praise^(A) more than praise from God.^(B)

⁶ On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread^(A) begins; for seven days^(B) you must eat bread made without yeast. ⁷ On the first day hold a sacred assembly^(C) and do no regular work. ⁸ For seven days present a food offering to the Lord.^(D) And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.’”

Offering the Firstfruits

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you^(E) and you reap its harvest,^(F) bring to the priest a sheaf^(G) of the first grain you harvest.^{(H) 11} He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord^(I) so it will be accepted^(J) on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. ¹² On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old^(K) without defect,^{(L) 13} together with its grain offering^(M) of two-tenths of an ephah^[a](N) of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering^(O) of a quarter of a hin^[b] of wine.^{(P) 14} You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain,^(Q) until the very day you bring this offering to your God.^(R) This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come,^(S) wherever you live.^(T)

⁹ Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor,^(A) said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?”^(B)

¹⁴ “This is a day you are to commemorate;^(A) for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.^{(B) 15} For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast.^(C) On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off^(D) from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work^(E) at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

¹⁷ “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^(F) because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt.^(G) Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.^{(H) 18} In the first month^(I) you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹ For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner^(J) or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off^(K) from the community of Israel. ²⁰ Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live,^(L) you must eat unleavened bread.”^(M)

¹⁰ Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people?^(A) If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

⁷ Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.^{(A) 8} Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread^(B) of sincerity and truth.