Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God’s Goodness and Israel’s Waywardness.

For the choir director; ^[a]on the Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph.

The Sign of the Sabbath

¹² The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹³ “But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘^(A)You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is ^(B)a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ¹⁴ Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. ^(C)Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. ^15 (D)For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a ^(E)sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; ^(F)whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. ¹⁶ So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to ^[a]celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.’ ^17 (G)It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; ^(H)for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.”

¹⁸ When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses ^(I)the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, ^(J)written by the finger of God.

Paul before Festus

25 Festus then, having arrived in ^(A)the province, three days later went up to Jerusalem from ^(B)Caesarea. ² And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews ^(C)brought charges against Paul, and they were urging him, ³ requesting a ^[a]concession against ^[b]Paul, that he might ^[c]have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, ^(D)setting an ambush to kill him on the way). ⁴ Festus then ^(E)answered that Paul ^(F)was being kept in custody at ^(G)Caesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly. ⁵ “Therefore,” he *said, “let the influential men among you ^[d]go there with me, and if there is anything wrong ^[e]about the man, let them ^[f]prosecute him.”

⁶ After he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to ^(H)Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on ^(I)the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷ After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing ^(J)many and serious charges against him ^(K)which they could not prove, ⁸ while Paul said in his own defense, “^(L)I have committed no offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.” ⁹ But Festus, ^(M)wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “^(N)Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and ^[g]stand trial before me on these charges?” ¹⁰ But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s ^(O)tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. ¹¹ If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I ^(P)appeal to Caesar.” ¹² Then when Festus had conferred with ^[h]his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”