Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁶ And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. ⁷ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there because he put forth his hand to the ark;^[a] and he died there beside the ark of God. ⁸ And David was angry because the Lord had broken forth upon Uzzah; and that place is called Pe′rez-uz′zah,^[b] to this day. ⁹ And David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” ¹⁰ So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David; but David took it aside to the house of O′bed-e′dom the Gittite. ¹¹ And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of O′bed-e′dom the Gittite three months; and the Lord blessed O′bed-e′dom and all his household.

¹² And it was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of O′bed-e′dom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of O′bed-e′dom to the city of David with rejoicing;

Paul Arrested in the Temple

²⁷ When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up all the crowd, and laid hands on him, ²⁸ crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching men everywhere against the people and the law and this place; moreover he also brought Greeks into the temple, and he has defiled this holy place.” ²⁹ For they had previously seen Troph′imus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. ³⁰ Then all the city was aroused, and the people ran together; they seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. ³¹ And as they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. ³² He at once took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them; and when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³ Then the tribune came up and arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another; and as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. ³⁵ And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd; ³⁶ for the mob of the people followed, crying, “Away with him!”

Paul Defends Himself

³⁷ As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸ Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” ³⁹ Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cili′cia, a citizen of no mean city; I beg you, let me speak to the people.”