Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

In the Shadow of Your Wings

A ^(A)Prayer of David.

Laws Concerning Levirate Marriage

^5 (A)“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her ^(B)husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. ⁶ And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that ^(C)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷ And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall ^(D)go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ^(E)‘I do not wish to take her’, ⁹ then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and ^(F)pull his sandal off his foot and ^(G)spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not ^(H)build up his brother's house.’ ¹⁰ And the name of his house^[a] shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’

Paul and the Roman Tribune

²² Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, ^(A)“Away with such a fellow from the earth! For ^(B)he should not be allowed to live.” ²³ And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, ²⁴ the tribune ordered him to be brought into ^(C)the barracks, saying that he should be ^(D)examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this. ²⁵ But when they had stretched him out for the whips,^[a] Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog ^(E)a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?” ²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” ²⁷ So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” ²⁹ So those who were about ^(F)to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also ^(G)was afraid, ^(H)for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that ^(I)he had bound him.

Paul Before the Council

³⁰ But on the next day, ^(J)desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.

23 And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, ^(K)I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” ² And the high priest ^(L)Ananias commanded those who stood by him ^(M)to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you ^(N)whitewashed ^(O)wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet ^(P)contrary to the law you ^(Q)order me to be struck?” ⁴ Those who stood by said, “Would you revile ^(R)God's high priest?” ⁵ And Paul said, ^(S)“I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ^(T)‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶ Now when Paul perceived that one part were ^(U)Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, ^(V)I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is ^(W)with respect to the ^(X)hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” ⁷ And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ For the Sadducees ^(Y)say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. ⁹ Then a great clamour arose, and some of ^(Z)the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended sharply, ^(AA)“We find nothing wrong in this man. What ^(AB)if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” ¹⁰ And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into ^(AC)the barracks.

^11 (AD)The following night ^(AE)the Lord stood by him and said, ^(AF)“Take courage, for ^(AG)as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must ^(AH)testify also in Rome.”