Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Shout Praises to the Lord

^17-19 When you eat food in the land that I am giving you, remember to set aside some of it as an offering to me. ²⁰ From the first batch of bread dough that you make after each new grain harvest, make a loaf of bread and offer it to me, just as you offer grain. ²¹ All your descendants must follow this law and offer part of the first batch of bread dough.

^22-23 The Lord also told Moses to tell the people what must be done if they ever disobey his laws:

²⁴ If all of you disobey one of my laws without knowing it, you must offer a bull as a sacrifice to please me, together with a grain sacrifice, a wine offering, and a goat as a sacrifice for sin. ²⁵ Then the priest will pray and ask me to forgive you. And since you did not mean to do wrong, and you offered sacrifices, ²⁶ the sin of everyone—both Israelites and foreigners among you—will be forgiven.

Paul's Defense before Agrippa

26 Agrippa told Paul, “You may now speak for yourself.”

Paul stretched out his hand and said:

² King Agrippa, I am glad for this chance to defend myself before you today on all these charges my own people have brought against me. ³ You know a lot about our religious customs and the beliefs that divide us. So I ask you to listen patiently to me.

^4-5 (A) All the Jews have known me since I was a child. They know what kind of life I have lived in my own country and in Jerusalem. And if they were willing, they could tell you I was a Pharisee, a member of a group that is stricter than any other. ⁶ Now I am on trial because I believe the promise God made to our people long ago.

⁷ Day and night our twelve tribes have earnestly served God, waiting for his promised blessings. King Agrippa, because of this hope, some of our leaders have brought charges against me. ^8 (B) Why should any of you doubt that God raises the dead to life?

^9 (C) I once thought that I should do everything I could to oppose Jesus from Nazareth. ¹⁰ I did this first in Jerusalem, and with the authority of the chief priests I put many of God's people in jail. I even voted for them to be killed. ¹¹ I often had them punished in our synagogues, and I tried to make them give up their faith. In fact, I was so angry with them, that I went looking for them in foreign cities.