Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 146
1 Hallelujah!
Praise Yahweh, my soul!
2 I want to praise Yahweh throughout my life.
I want to make music to praise my Elohim as long as I live.
3 Do not trust influential people,
mortals who cannot help you.
4 When they breathe their last breath, they return to the ground.
On that day their plans come to an end.
5 Blessed are those who receive help from the El of Jacob.
Their hope rests on Yahweh their Elohim,
6 who made heaven, earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
Yahweh remains faithful forever.
7 He brings about justice for those who are oppressed.
He gives food to those who are hungry.
Yahweh sets prisoners free.
8 Yahweh gives sight to blind people.
Yahweh straightens the backs of those who are bent over.
Yahweh loves righteous people.
9 Yahweh protects foreigners.
Yahweh gives relief to orphans and widows.
But he keeps wicked people from reaching their goal.
10 Yahweh rules as king forever.
Zion, your Elohim rules throughout every generation.
Hallelujah!
Offering the First Bread Dough to the Lord
17 Yahweh said to Moses, 18 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land where I’m taking you 19 and eat any of the food from the land, give some of it as a contribution to Yahweh. 20 Shape one part of your dough into a ring the same way you do with the contribution you make from the threshing floor.[a] 21 For generations to come, you must give one part of your dough as a contribution to Yahweh.
What Is to Be Done about Unintentional and Intentional Wrongdoings
22 “Suppose you unintentionally do something wrong by not obeying all these commands Yahweh gave Moses. 23 (Everything Yahweh commanded you through Moses holds as true for generations to come as it did the day Yahweh gave the commands.) 24 If it was unintentional and no one else knows about it, the whole community must sacrifice a young bull as a burnt offering, a soothing aroma to Yahweh, along with the proper grain and wine offerings, and a male goat as an offering for sin. 25 The priest will make peace with the Lord for the whole community of Israel. Then they will be forgiven because the wrongdoing was unintentional and they brought these two offerings to Yahweh for their sin: an offering by fire and an offering for sin. 26 So the whole community of Israel will be forgiven, including foreigners who are living among them, since all the people were involved in the unintentional wrongdoing.
26 Agrippa said to Paul, “You’re free to speak for yourself.”
Paul acknowledged King Agrippa and then began his defense. 2 “King Agrippa, I think I’m fortunate today to stand in front of you and defend myself against every charge that the Jews brought against me. 3 I say this since you are especially familiar with every custom and controversy in Judaism. So I ask you to listen patiently to me.
4 “All the Jews know how I lived the earliest days of my youth with my own people and in Jerusalem. 5 They’ve known me for a long time and can testify, if they’re willing, that I followed the strictest party of our religion. They know that I lived my life as a Pharisee.
6 “I’m on trial now because I expect God to keep the promise that he made to our ancestors. 7 Our twelve tribes expect this promise to be kept as they worship with intense devotion day and night. Your Majesty, the Jews are making accusations against me because I expect God to keep his promise. 8 Why do all of you refuse to believe that God can bring dead people back to life?
9 “I used to think that I had to do a lot of things to oppose the one named Yeshua of Nazareth. 10 That is what I did in Jerusalem. By the authority I received from the chief priests, I locked many Christians in prison. I voted to have them killed every time a vote was taken. 11 I even went to each synagogue, punished believers, and forced them to curse the name of Yeshua. In my furious rage against them, I hunted them down in cities outside Jerusalem.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.