The Harvest Festival^(A)

^15 (B)Count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath on which you bring your sheaf of grain to present to the Lord. ¹⁶ On the fiftieth day, the day after the seventh Sabbath, present to the Lord another new offering of grain. ¹⁷ Each family is to bring two loaves of bread and present them to the Lord as a special gift. Each loaf shall be made of four pounds of flour baked with yeast and shall be presented to the Lord as an offering of the first grain to be harvested. ¹⁸ And with the bread the community is to present seven one-year-old lambs, one bull, and two rams, none of which may have any defects. They shall be offered as a burnt offering to the Lord, along with a grain offering and a wine offering. The odor of this offering is pleasing to the Lord. ¹⁹ Also offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. ²⁰ The priest shall present the bread with the two lambs as a special gift to the Lord for the priests. These offerings are holy. ²¹ On that day do none of your daily work, but gather for worship. Your descendants are to observe this regulation for all time to come, no matter where they live.

The Harvest Festival^(A)

^9 (B)“Count seven weeks from the time that you begin to harvest the grain, ¹⁰ and then celebrate the Harvest Festival, to honor the Lord your God, by bringing him a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing he has given you. ¹¹ Be joyful in the Lord's presence, together with your children, your servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. Do this at the one place of worship.

^8 (A)I will stay here in Ephesus until the day of Pentecost.

⁸ Paul went into the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly with the people, holding discussions with them and trying to convince them about the Kingdom of God. ⁹ But some of them were stubborn and would not believe, and before the whole group they said evil things about the Way of the Lord. So Paul left them and took the believers with him, and every day^[a] he held discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ This went on for two years, so that all the people who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Gentiles, heard the word of the Lord.