Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God’s Goodness and Israel’s Waywardness.

For the music director; ^[a]on the Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph.

The Sign of the Sabbath

¹² Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹³ “Now as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘^(A)You must keep My Sabbaths; for this is ^(B)a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ¹⁴ Therefore you are to keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. ^(C)Everyone who profanes it must be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. ^15 (D)For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a ^(E)Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; ^(F)whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. ¹⁶ So the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to ^[a]celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a permanent covenant.’ ^17 (G)It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; ^(H)for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.”

¹⁸ When He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses ^(I)the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, ^(J)written by the finger of God.

Paul before Festus

25 Festus, then, after arriving in ^(A)the province, went up to Jerusalem from ^(B)Caesarea three days later. ² And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews ^(C)brought charges against Paul, and they were pleading with ^[a]Festus, ³ requesting a ^[b]concession against ^[c]Paul, that he might ^[d]have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, ^(D)setting an ambush to kill him on the way). ⁴ Festus then ^(E)answered that Paul ^(F)was being kept in custody in ^(G)Caesarea, and that he himself was about to leave shortly. ⁵ “Therefore,” he *said, “have the influential men among you ^[e]go there with me, and if there is anything wrong ^[f]about the man, have them bring charges against him.”

⁶ After Festus had spent no more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to ^(H)Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on ^(I)the tribunal and ordered that Paul be brought. ⁷ After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing ^(J)many, and serious, charges against him ^(K)which they could not prove, ⁸ while Paul said in his own defense, “^(L)I have not done anything wrong either against the Law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against Caesar.” ⁹ But Festus, ^(M)wanting to do the Jews a favor, replied to Paul and said, “^(N)Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and ^[g]stand trial before me on these charges?” ¹⁰ But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s ^(O)tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. ¹¹ If, therefore, I am in the wrong and have committed something deserving death, I am not trying to avoid execution; but if there is nothing to the accusations which these men are bringing against me, no one can hand me over to them. I ^(P)appeal to Caesar.” ¹² Then when Festus had conferred with ^[h]his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.”