Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord, an Abundant Helper.

Consecration of the Priests

29 “^(A)Now this is ^[a]what you shall do to them to consecrate them to serve as priests to Me: take one bull 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 present them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. ⁴ Then ^(C)you shall bring Aaron and his sons 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 wrap his waist 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 You shall also bring his sons and put ^(L)tunics on them. ⁹ And you shall wrap their waists with ^(M)sashes, Aaron and his sons, and fit ^[d]caps on them, and they shall have ^(N)the priesthood by a permanent 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 at about noon, 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)saw the light, but ^(D)did not ^[a]understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ And I said, ‘^(E)What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹ But since I ^(F)could not see because of the ^[b]brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.

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 nearby he said to me, ‘^(I)Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And ^[c](J)at that very moment I looked up at 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 ^[d]message from His mouth. ¹⁵ For you will be ^(O)a witness for Him to all people of ^(P)what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ Now why do you delay? ^(Q)Get up and be baptized, and ^(R)wash away your sins by ^(S)calling on His name.’

¹⁷ “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 testimony 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 nearby and approving, and watching over the cloaks of those who were killing him.’ ²¹ And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away ^(Z)to the Gentiles.’”