¹⁸ Therefore, the ^(A)angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Solomon Builds the Temple^(A)

3 Now ^(B)Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at ^(C)Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where ^[a]the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of ^(D)Ornan^[b] the Jebusite.

The Altar on the Threshing Floor^(A)

¹⁸ And Gad came that day to David and said to him, ^(B)“Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

Christ Is Preached to an Ethiopian^(A)

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord spoke to ^(B)Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is ^[a]desert. ²⁷ So he arose and went. And behold, ^(C)a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and ^(D)had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”

³⁰ So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹ And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² The place in the Scripture which he read was this:

³⁴ So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, ^(I)and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. ^(J)What hinders me from being baptized?”

^37 [b]Then Philip said, ^(K)“If you believe with all your heart, you may.”

And he answered and said, ^(L)“I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

³⁸ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. ³⁹ Now when they came up out of the water, ^(M)the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip was found at ^[c]Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to ^(N)Caesarea.

¹⁵ And God sent ^[a]an ^(A)angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As ^[b]he was destroying, the Lord looked and ^(B)relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, “It is enough; now restrain ^[c]your hand.” And the angel of the Lord stood by the ^(C)threshing floor of ^[d]Ornan the Jebusite.

¹¹ So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Choose for yourself,