Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

In the Shadow of Your Wings

A Prayer of David.

⁵ “If brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, then the wife of the one who died shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. ^(A)Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. ⁶ And it will be that the firstborn whom she bears shall ^[a]assume the name of his dead brother, so that ^(B)his name will not be blotted out from Israel. ^7 (C)But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he stands and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ ^9 (D)then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and ^(E)spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰ And in Israel his name shall be called, ‘The house of him whose sandal is removed.’

Paul, a Citizen of Rome

²² And they were listening to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “^(A)Away with such a fellow from the earth, for ^(B)he should not be allowed to live!” ²³ And as they were crying out and ^(C)throwing off their garments and ^(D)tossing dust into the air, ²⁴ the ^[a]commander ordered him to be brought into ^(E)the barracks, stating that he should be ^(F)examined by flogging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. ²⁵ But when they stretched him out ^[b]with leather straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it ^[c]lawful for you to flog ^(G)a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” ²⁶ And when the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported to him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” ²⁷ And the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ And the commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I have been born a citizen.” ²⁹ Therefore those who were about to ^(H)examine him immediately withdrew from him; and the commander also ^(I)was afraid when he learned that he was a Roman, and because he had ^(J)bound him.

Paul Before the Sanhedrin

³⁰ But on the next day, ^(K)wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he ^(L)released him and ordered the chief priests and all ^(M)the Sanhedrin to come together, and brought Paul down and set him before them.

23 Now Paul, looking intently at ^(N)the Sanhedrin, said, “^(O)Brothers, ^(P)I have ^[d]lived my life in all good conscience before God up to this day.” ² And the high priest ^(Q)Ananias commanded those standing beside him ^(R)to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, ^(S)you whitewashed wall! Do you ^(T)sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” ⁴ But those standing nearby said, “Do you revile the high priest of God?” ⁵ And Paul said, “I was not aware, brothers, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘^(U)You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶ But knowing that one group were ^(V)Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in ^(W)the Sanhedrin, “^(X)Brothers, ^(Y)I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for ^(Z)the hope and resurrection of the dead!” ⁷ As he said this, there was dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ For ^(AA)the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. ⁹ And there occurred a great outcry; and some of ^(AB)the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “^(AC)We find nothing wrong with this man. ^(AD)Suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” ¹⁰ And as a great dissension was developing, because the ^[e]commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them, he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into ^(AE)the barracks.

¹¹ But on ^(AF)that very night, the Lord stood at his side and said, “^(AG)Take courage; for ^(AH)as you have ^(AI)solemnly borne witness to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness at Rome also.”