Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

I Will Praise Yahweh Throughout My Life

Setting Apart the Priests

29 “^(A)Now this is ^[a]what you shall do to them to set them apart as holy to minister as priests to Me: take one bull from the herd and two rams without blemish, ² and ^(B)unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers ^[b]spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour. ³ And you shall put them in one basket and bring them near in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. ⁴ Then ^(C)you shall bring Aaron and his sons near to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. ⁵ And you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the ^(D)tunic and ^(E)the robe of the ephod and ^(F)the ephod and ^(G)the ^[c]breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully ^(H)woven band of the ephod; ⁶ and you shall set the ^(I)turban on his head and put ^(J)the holy crown on the turban. ⁷ Then you shall take ^(K)the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. ⁸ And you shall bring his sons near and put ^(L)tunics on them. ⁹ You shall gird them with ^(M)sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind ^[d]caps on them, and they shall have ^(N)the priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall ^[e](O)ordain Aaron and his sons.

⁶ “^(A)But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, ⁷ and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ⁸ And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am ^(B)Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ And those who were with me ^(C)beheld the light, to be sure, but ^(D)did not ^[a]understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ And I said, ‘^(E)What should I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been determined for you to do.’ ¹¹ But since I ^(F)could not see because of the glory of that light, being led by the hand by those who were with me, I came into Damascus.

¹² “Now a certain ^(G)Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and ^(H)well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³ came to me, and standing near, said to me, ‘^(I)Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ And ^[b](J)at that very hour I regained my sight and saw him. ¹⁴ And he said, ‘^(K)The God of our fathers has ^(L)appointed you to know His will and to ^(M)see the ^(N)Righteous One and to hear a ^[c]voice from His mouth. ¹⁵ For you will be ^(O)a witness for Him to all men of ^(P)what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ Now why do you delay? ^(Q)Rise up and be baptized, and ^(R)wash away your sins, ^(S)calling on His name.’

¹⁷ “Now it happened when I ^(T)returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I ^(U)fell into a trance, ¹⁸ and I saw Him saying to me, ‘^(V)Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your witness about Me.’ ¹⁹ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another ^(W)I used to imprison and ^(X)beat those who believed in You. ²⁰ And ^(Y)when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and guarding the garments of those who were slaying him.’ ²¹ And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away ^(Z)to the Gentiles.’”