Book of Common Prayer

²⁶ Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is in the desert. ²⁷ And Philip arose and went on. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, who was a chamberlain, and of great authority with Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, and in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to pray. ²⁸ And as he returned home again, sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.

²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go near and overtake that chariot. ³⁰ And 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 I have a guide? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² The tenor of the scripture that he was reading was this: He was led as a sheep to be slain, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so he opened not his mouth. ³³ Because of his humbleness, he was not esteemed. But who can number his descendants? For his life is taken from the earth.

³⁴ The chamberlain said to Philip, I ask you, of whom does the prophet speak this? of himself, or of some other man? ³⁵ And Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture, and preached Jesus to him.

³⁶ And as they went on their way, they came to some water, and the chamberlain said, See, here is water. What is to keep me from being baptized? ³⁷ Philip said to him, If you believe with all your heart, you may be. He answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they both went down into the water, both Philip and also the chamberlain, and he baptized him.

³⁹ And as soon as they had come out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the chamberlain saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip was found at Azotus, and he walked throughout the country preaching in their towns until he came to Caesarea.

¹³ And Pilate called together the high priests, the rulers, and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, You have brought this man to me as one who incited uprising among the people. But I have examined him before you, and have found no fault in this man concerning those things that you accuse him of. ¹⁵ No, nor did Herod; for I sent you to him, and lo, nothing worthy of death was determined against him. ¹⁶ I will therefore chastise him and let him go. ¹⁷ (For custom constrained Pilate to release one prisoner to them at that feast.)

¹⁸ And all the people cried out at once, saying, Away with him, and release Barabbas to us! ¹⁹ (who for insurrection made in the city and for murder had been cast into prison).

²⁰ Pilate spoke again to them, wanting to let Jesus go free. ²¹ But they shouted, saying, Crucify him! Crucify him!

²² He said to them the third time, What evil has he done? I find no cause of death in him. I will therefore chastise him and release him.

²³ But they called with loud voices for him to be crucified.

And the voice of the people and of the high priests prevailed, ²⁴ and Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required, ²⁵ and released to them the one who for insurrection and murder had been cast into prison, whom they desired, and delivered Jesus to do with him what they would.