A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus

2 You then, ^(A)my child, ^(B)be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,

The High Priestly Prayer

17 When Jesus had spoken these words, ^(A)he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, ^(B)the hour has come; ^(C)glorify your Son that the Son may ^(D)glorify you, ² since ^(E)you have given him authority over all flesh, ^(F)to give eternal life to all ^(G)whom you have given him. ^3 (H)And this is eternal life, ^(I)that they know you, ^(J)the only ^(K)true God, and ^(L)Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I ^(M)glorified you on earth, ^(N)having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, ^(O)glorify me in your own presence with the glory ^(P)that I had with you ^(Q)before the world existed.

^6 (R)“I have manifested your name to the people ^(S)whom you gave me out of the world. ^(T)Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything ^(U)that you have given me is from you. ⁸ For I have given them ^(V)the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that ^(W)I came from you; and ^(X)they have believed that you sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them. ^(Y)I am not praying for the world but for those ^(Z)whom you have given me, for ^(AA)they are yours. ^10 (AB)All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and ^(AC)I am glorified in them. ¹¹ And I am no longer in the world, but ^(AD)they are in the world, and ^(AE)I am coming to you. ^(AF)Holy Father, ^(AG)keep them in your name, ^(AH)which you have given me, ^(AI)that they may be one, ^(AJ)even as we are one. ^12 (AK)While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have ^(AL)guarded them, and ^(AM)not one of them has been lost except ^(AN)the son of destruction, ^(AO)that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now ^(AP)I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have ^(AQ)my joy fulfilled in themselves. ^14 (AR)I have given them your word, and ^(AS)the world has hated them ^(AT)because they are not of the world, ^(AU)just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I ^(AV)do not ask that you ^(AW)take them out of the world, but that you ^(AX)keep them from ^(AY)the evil one.^{[a] 16 (AZ)}They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ^17 (BA)Sanctify them^[b] in the truth; ^(BB)your word is truth. ^18 (BC)As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And ^(BD)for their sake ^(BE)I consecrate myself,^[c] that they also ^(BF)may be sanctified^[d] in truth.

²⁰ “I do not ^(BG)ask for these only, but also for those ^(BH)who will believe in me through their word, ^21 (BI)that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that ^(BJ)they also may be in ^(BK)us, so that the world ^(BL)may believe that you have sent me. ^22 (BM)The glory that you have given me ^(BN)I have given to them, ^(BO)that they may be one even as we are one, ^23 (BP)I in them and you in me, ^(BQ)that they may become perfectly one, ^(BR)so that the world may know that you sent me and ^(BS)loved them even as ^(BT)you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be ^(BU)with me ^(BV)where I am, ^(BW)to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me ^(BX)before the foundation of the world. ^25 (BY)O righteous Father, even though ^(BZ)the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ^26 (CA)I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love ^(CB)with which you have loved me may be in them, and ^(CC)I in them.”

⁵ And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, ^(A)a man full of faith and ^(B)of the Holy Spirit, and ^(C)Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, ^(D)a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶ These they set before the apostles, and ^(E)they prayed and ^(F)laid their hands on them.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

²⁶ Now ^(A)an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south^[a] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. ²⁷ And he rose and went. And there was an ^(B)Ethiopian, a ^(C)eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, ^(D)who was in charge of all her treasure. ^(E)He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸ and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” ³⁰ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, ^(F)“How can I, unless someone ^(G)guides me?” And ^(H)he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

³⁴ And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and ^(K)beginning with this Scripture ^(L)he told him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! ^(M)What prevents me from being baptized?”^{[b] 38} And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ And when they came up out of the water, ^(N)the Spirit of the Lord ^(O)carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.