Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 17
A Prayer for Protection
A Davidic prayer.
1 Lord, hear a just cause;(A)
pay attention to my cry;
listen to my prayer—
from lips free of deceit.(B)
2 Let my vindication come from You,
for You see what is right.(C)
3 You have tested my heart;(D)
You have examined me at night.
You have tried me and found nothing evil;(E)
I have determined that my mouth will not sin.[a]
4 Concerning what people do:
by the word of Your lips[b]
I have avoided the ways of the violent.(F)
5 My steps are on Your paths;
my feet have not slipped.(G)
6 I call on You, God,
because You will answer me;(H)
listen closely to me; hear what I say.
7 Display the wonders of Your faithful love,(I)
Savior of all who seek refuge(J)
from those who rebel against Your right hand.[c]
8 Protect me as the pupil of Your eye;(K)
hide me in the shadow of Your wings(L)
9 from[d] the wicked who treat me violently,[e]
my deadly enemies who surround me.(M)
Judah and Tamar
38 At that time Judah left his brothers and settled near an Adullamite(A) named Hirah. 2 There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua; he took her as a wife and slept with her. 3 She conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er.(B) 4 She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and named him Onan. 5 She gave birth to another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that[a][b] she gave birth to him.
6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 Now Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the Lord’s sight, and the Lord put him to death.(C) 8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law(D) and produce offspring for your brother.”(E) 9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was evil in the Lord’s sight, so He put him to death also.
11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.”(F) For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.
12 After a long time[c] Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah(G) to the sheepshearers. 13 Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” 14 So she took off her widow’s clothes, veiled her face,(H) covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim,[d] which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
16 He went over to her and said, “Come, let me sleep with you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.(I)
She said, “What will you give me for sleeping with me?”
17 “I will send you a young goat from my flock,” he replied.
But she said, “Only if you leave something with me until you send it.”
18 “What should I give you?” he asked.
She answered, “Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she got pregnant by him. 19 She got up and left, then removed her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.
20 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get back the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her. 21 He asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”
“There has been no cult prostitute here,” they answered.
22 So the Adullamite returned to Judah, saying, “I couldn’t find her, and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’”
23 Judah replied, “Let her keep the items for herself; otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”
24 About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, has been acting like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant.”
“Bring her out!” Judah said. “Let her be burned to death!”(J)
25 As she was being brought out, she sent her father-in-law this message: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Examine them. Whose signet ring, cord, and staff are these?”
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right[e] than I,(K) since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her intimately again.
Paul’s Defense before Felix
10 When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul replied: “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me.(A) 11 You are able to determine that it is no more than 12 days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.(B) 12 They didn’t find me disputing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple complex or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city.(C) 13 Neither can they provide evidence to you of what they now bring against me. 14 But I confess this to you: I worship my fathers’ God according to the Way,(D) which they call a sect, believing all the things that are written in the Law and in the Prophets.(E) 15 And I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there is going to be a resurrection,[a](F) both of the righteous and the unrighteous.(G) 16 I always do my best to have a clear conscience(H) toward God and men. 17 After many years, I came to bring charitable gifts and offerings to my nation,(I) 18 and while I was doing this, some Jews from Asia found me ritually purified in the temple, without a crowd and without any uproar.(J) 19 It is they who ought to be here before you to bring charges, if they have anything against me. 20 Either let these men here state what wrongdoing they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin, 21 or about this one statement I cried out while standing among them, ‘Today I am being judged before you concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”
The Verdict Postponed
22 Since Felix was accurately informed about the Way,(K) he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.” 23 He ordered that the centurion keep Paul[b] under guard, though he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from serving[c] him.(L)
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