Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for Protection against Oppressors.

A Prayer of David.

⁵ “When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. ^(A)Her husband’s brother shall have relations with her and take her to himself as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. ⁶ It shall then be that the firstborn to whom she gives birth shall ^[a]assume the name of his father’s deceased brother, so that ^(B)his name will not be wiped out from Israel. ^7 (C)But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish 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 persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ ^9 (D)then his brother’s widow shall come up to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and ^(E)spit in his face; and she shall ^[b]declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house!’ ¹⁰ And in Israel ^[c]his family shall be called by the name, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’

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

³⁰ Now on the next day, ^(K)wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he ^(L)released him and ordered the chief priests and all ^(M)the ^[e]Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.

Paul before the Council

23 Now looking intently at ^(N)the ^[f]Council, Paul said, “^[g](O)Brothers, ^(P)I have ^[h]lived my life with an entirely good conscience before God up to this day.” ² But 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 present said, “Are you insulting God’s high priest?” ⁵ And Paul said, “I was not aware, brothers, that he is high priest; for it is written: ‘^(U)You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶ But Paul, perceiving that one group were ^(V)Sadducees and the other Pharisees, began crying out in ^(W)the ^[i]Council, “^[j](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 When he said this, a dissension occurred 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 a great uproar occurred; and some of ^(AB)the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and started arguing heatedly, saying, “^(AC)We find nothing wrong with this man; ^(AD)suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” ¹⁰ And when a great dissension occurred, the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, and 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)the following night, the Lord stood near him and said, “^(AG)Be courageous! For ^(AH)as you have ^(AI)testified to the truth about Me in Jerusalem, so you must testify in Rome also.”