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.

He teaches his disciples to pray, drives out a devil, and rebukes the blasphemous Pharisees. They require signs and tokens. He eats with the Pharisee, and reproves the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, scribes, and hypocrites.

11 And it happened as he was praying in a certain place that when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Master, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. ² And he said to them, When you pray, say, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, even in earth as it is in heaven. ³ Give us our daily bread evermore. ⁴ And forgive us our sins, for even we forgive every person that trespasses against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

⁵ And he said to them, If any of you had a friend, and went to him at midnight and said to him, Friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶ because a friend of mine has come from a journey to me and I have nothing to set before him, ⁷ and the man inside were to answer and say, Don’t trouble me; the door is now shut, and my servants are with me in the chamber; I cannot rise and give them to you – ⁸ I say to you, though he would not arise and give him a loaf because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he would rise and give him as many as he needed. ⁹ And so I say to you: ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

¹⁰ For everyone that asks, receives, and he that seeks, finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened. ¹¹ If the son asks for bread from any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will he give him a serpent for a fish? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then who are evil can give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father of heaven give a holy spirit to those who desire it of him?