Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Speak to the Israelites. Say to them, ‘You are going to enter the land I am taking you to. ¹⁹ You will eat its food. When you do, present part of it as an offering to the Lord. ²⁰ Present a loaf made from the first flour you grind. Present it as an offering from the threshing floor. ²¹ You must present the offering to the Lord. You must present it from the first grain you grind. You must do it for all time to come.

Offerings for Sins That Aren’t Committed on Purpose

²² “ ‘Suppose you as a community fail to keep any of the commands the Lord gave Moses. And suppose you do it without meaning to. ²³ That applies to any of the commands the Lord told Moses to give you. And they are in effect from the day the Lord gave them and for all time to come. ²⁴ Suppose the community sins without meaning to. And suppose they do not know they have sinned. Then the whole community must offer a young bull. They must sacrifice it for a burnt offering. Its smell will please the Lord. Along with it, they must offer its required grain offering and drink offering. They must also sacrifice a male goat for a sin offering. ²⁵ With it the priest will pay for the sin of the whole community of Israel. Then they will be forgiven. They did not mean to commit that sin. And they have presented to the Lord a food offering for the wrong thing they did. They have brought a sin offering with it. ²⁶ The Lord will forgive the whole community of Israel and the outsiders living among them. All the people had a part in the sin, even though they did not mean to do it.

26 Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now present your case.”

So Paul motioned with his hand. Then he began to present his case. ² “King Agrippa,” he said, “I am happy to be able to stand here today. I will answer all the charges brought against me by the Jews. ³ I am very pleased that you are familiar with Jewish ways. You know the kinds of things they argue about. So I beg you to be patient as you listen to me.

⁴ “The Jewish people all know how I have lived ever since I was a child. They know all about me from the beginning of my life. They know how I lived in my own country and in Jerusalem. ⁵ They have known me for a long time. So if they wanted to, they could tell you how I have lived. I have lived by the rules of the Pharisees. Those rules are harder to obey than those of any other Jewish group. ⁶ Today I am on trial because of the hope I have. I believe in what God promised our people of long ago. ⁷ It is the promise that our 12 tribes are hoping to see come true. Because of this hope they serve God with faithful and honest hearts day and night. King Agrippa, it is also because of this hope that these Jews are bringing charges against me. ⁸ Why should any of you think it is impossible for God to raise the dead?

⁹ “I believed that I should oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. So I did everything I could to oppose his name. ¹⁰ That’s just what I was doing in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests, I put many of the Lord’s people in prison. I agreed that they should die. ¹¹ I often went from one synagogue to another to have them punished. I tried to force them to speak evil things against Jesus. All I wanted to do was hurt them. I even went looking for them in the cities of other lands.