Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

17 Hear what is right, O LORD. Consider my cry. Hear my prayer of unfeigned lips.

² Let my sentence come forth from Your presence. And let Your eyes behold equity.

³ You have tested and visited my heart in the night. You have tried me and found nothing. For I have purposed that my mouth should not offend.

⁴ Concerning the works of men, by the words of Your lips I kept myself from the paths of the cruel man.

⁵ Keep my steps in Your paths, so that my feet do not slide.

⁶ I have called upon You. Surely You will hear me, O God. Incline Your ear to me and hear my words.

⁷ Show Your marvelous mercies, You Who are the Savior of those who trust in You from such as resist Your right hand.

⁸ Keep me as the apple of Your eye. Hide me under the shadow of Your wings

⁹ from the wicked who oppress me, from my enemies who surround me for my soul.

⁵ “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside, to a stranger. But, his kinsman shall go in to her, and take her to wife, and do the kinsman’s office to her.

⁶ “And the firstborn which she bears shall succeed in the name of his dead brother, so that his name is not put out of Israel.

⁷ “And if the man will not take his kinswoman, then let his kinswoman go up to the gate, to the elders, and say, ‘My kinsman refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel. He will not do the office of a kinsman to me.’

⁸ “Then the elders of the city shall call him and commune with him. If he stands and says, ‘I will not take her’,

⁹ “then his kinswoman shall come to him in the presence of the elders and loosen his shoe from his foot and spit in his face and answer, and say, ‘So shall it be done to that man who will not build up his brother’s house.’

¹⁰ “And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him whose shoe is put off.’

²² And they heard him until this word. Then they lifted up their voices, and said, “Away with such a fellow from the Earth! For he is not fit to live!”

²³ And as they cried and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,

²⁴ the chief captain commanded him to be led into the castle, and ordered that he should be scourged, and examined, that he might know why they cried so against him.

²⁵ And as they bound him with straps, Paul said to the Centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge one who is a Roman, and not condemned?”

²⁶ Now when the Centurion heard that, he told the chief captain, saying, “Be careful what you do. For this man is a Roman.”

²⁷ Then the chief captain came and said to him, “Tell me. Are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.”

²⁸ And the chief captain answered, “I obtained this freedom with a great sum.” Then Paul said, “But I was born so.”

²⁹ Then immediately, those who should have examined him departed. And the chief captain was also afraid after he realized that he was a Roman, and that he had bound him.

³⁰ On the next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their Council to come together. And he brought Paul and set him before them.

23 And Paul looked earnestly at the Council, and said, “Men! Brothers! I have in all good conscience served God until this day...”

² Then the High Priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by to strike him on the mouth.

³ Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitened wall! For you sit to judge me according to the Law. And transgressing the Law, you command me to be struck?”

⁴ And those who stood by, said, “You revile God’s High Priest?!”

⁵ Then Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the High Priest. For it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.’”

⁶ But when Paul perceived that part of them were of the Sadducees, and another of the Pharisees, he cried in the Council, “Men! Brothers! I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I am accused of the hope and resurrection of the dead.”

⁷ And when he had said this, there was a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, so that the multitude was divided.

⁸ For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit. But the Pharisees confess both.

⁹ Then there was a great outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees’ part rose up and contended fiercely with them, saying, “We find no evil in this man. But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.”

¹⁰ And when there was a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing Paul might have been pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him from among them, and to bring him into the castle.

¹¹ Now the night following, the Lord stood by him, and said, “Be of good courage, Paul, for as you have testified of me in Jerusalem, so also must you bear witness in Rome.