Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

17 (Tefillah of Dovid) Hear the tzedek (righteous plea of a just cause), Hashem, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my tefillah, that goeth not out of lips of mirmah (deceit).

² Let my mishpat (right) come forth from Thy presence; let Thine eyes behold the things that are right.

³ Thou hast probed mine lev; Thou hast visited me in the lailah; Thou hast tested me and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

⁴ Concerning the works of men, by the Devar of Thy lips I have kept myself from the paths of the cruel.

⁵ Uphold my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps stumble not.

⁶ I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, O El; incline Thine ear unto me, and hear my prayer.

⁷ Show Thy marvellous chesed, O Thou Moshi’a Who saves by Thy right hand them which put their trust in Thee from those that rise up against them.

⁸ Be shomer over me as the apple of Thy eye; hide me in the shadow of Thy wings,

⁹ From the resha’im that oppress me, from my deadly enemies threatening my nefesh, who surround me.

⁵ If achim dwell together, and one of them die, and ben ain lo (have no child), the eshet hamet (wife of the dead) shall not marry outside unto an ish zar (strange man); her yevam (deceased husband’s brother) shall go in unto her, and take her to him as a wife, and perform the levirate marriage.

⁶ And it shall be, that the bechor which she beareth shall succeed in the shem of his brother which is dead, that shmo be not blotted out from Yisroel [see Ruth].

⁷ And if the ish like not to take his brother’s isha, then let his brother’s isha go up to the sha’ar unto the zekenim, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a shem in Yisroel, he will not perform the levirate marriage with me.

⁸ Then the zekenim of his town shall call him, and speak unto him; and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;

⁹ Then shall his brother’s isha come unto him in the presence of the zekenim, and remove his sandal from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that ish that will not build up the bais achiv (the house of his brother).

¹⁰ And shmo shall be called in Yisroel, The bais of him that hath his sandal loosed.

²² And they were listening to Rav Sha’ul up to the word "Goyim;" and then they lifted up their kol, saying, "Away with such a one from ha’aretz! He should not be allowed to live!"

²³ And while they were crying out, while they were throwing off their kaftans and tossing dust into the air, [SHMUEL BAIS 16:13]

²⁴ the Roman tribune directed him to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by the flagellum’s scourge, that the tribune might have da’as of the reason for the mob’s shouting thus keneged (against, in opposition to) Rav Sha’ul.

²⁵ And when the Roman soldiers stretched Rav Sha’ul out with the straps, he said to the centurion who was standing by, "If a man is a Roman citizen and uncondemned, it is lawful for you to scourge him?"

²⁶ And having heard this, the centurion approached the tribune and reported, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man has Roman citizenship."

²⁷ And having approached, the tribune said to Rav Sha’ul, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" And Rav Sha’ul said, "Etiam." [T.N. Latin: "Yes, certainly."]

²⁸ And the tribune answered, "It cost me a large sum of money for me to acquire my Roman citizenship. " And Rav Sha’ul said, "But indeed I have been born a Roman citizen."

²⁹ Ofen ort, then, the ones about to examine him drew back from Rav Sha’ul. Also the tribune did the same. For he was afraid, learning that Rav Sha’ul is a Roman and that he had bound him.

³⁰ And on the next day, desiring to know something definite about why Rav Sha’ul was accused by the Yehudim, the tribune released him and ordered the Rashei Hakohanim and all the Sanhedrin to be assembled. Then, having brought down Rav Sha’ul, the tribune had him set before them.

23 And as he gazed at the Sanhedrin, Rav Sha’ul said, “Anashim, Achim, I have lived before Hashem until this day with a lev tahor.”

² And the Kohen Gadol Chananyah ordered the ones standing by Rav Sha’ul to strike his mouth.

³ Then Rav Sha’ul said to him, “Hashem is about to strike you, you white-washed wall! You sit judging me according to Torah and yet in violation of the Torah you command me to be struck?” [Lv 19:15; Dt 25:1,2]

⁴ And the ones standing by said, “Do you revile the Kohen Gadol of Hashem?”

⁵ And Rav Sha’ul said, “I was without da’as, Achim, that he is the Kohen Gadol, for it has been written, NASI V’AMMECHA LO TA’OR (“A ruler of your people you will not speak evil of, curse,” Ex 22:27(28)

⁶ And Rav Sha’ul, having da’as that one kat is of Tzedukim (Sadducees) and the other of Perushim (Pharisees), was crying out in the Sanhedrin, “Anashim, Achim, I am a Parush ben Parush and it is for the tikvah of the Techiyas HaMesim that I am being judged.”

⁷ Now when Rav Sha’ul said this, there came about a machlochet (controversy) between the Perushim and Tzedukim, and the multitude was divided.

⁸ Loit (according to) the Tzedukim, there is no Techiyas HaMesim nor a malach nor ruchot, but Perushim acknowledge all these things.

⁹ And there was a kol gadol and some of the Sofrim of the kat of the Perushim were arguing vigorously, saying, “Nothing rah do we find keneged this ish, and what if a ruach did speak to him or a malach?”

¹⁰ And fearing much more machloket was coming, the Roman tribune ordered the troops to go down to take Rav Sha’ul away from the midst of them and to bring him into the barracks lest he be torn to pieces by them.

¹¹ And on the following lailah, HaAdon stood by Rav Sha’ul and said, “Chazak! For as you gave solemn edut about me in Yerushalayim, thus it is necessary for you also to bear solemn eidus in Rome.”