Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Passover is Instituted

12 The Lord told Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ² “This month will mark the beginning of months for you. It will be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell the entire congregation of Israel, ‘On the tenth of this month they’re each to take a lamb for themselves, according to their ancestors’ households, one lamb for each household. ⁴ If a household is too small for a lamb, then it and its closest neighbor are to obtain one based on the number of individuals—dividing^[a] the lamb based on what each person can eat. ⁵ Your lamb is to be a year old male without blemish. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ It is to remain under your care until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the entire assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight. ⁷ They’re to take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat the lamb.^{[b] 8} That very night they’re to eat the meat, roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹ Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled in water. Instead, roast it over the fire, with its head, legs, and internal organs. ¹⁰ Don’t leave any of it until morning, and whatever does remain of it until morning you are to burn in the fire.

¹¹ “‘This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it hurriedly—it’s the Lord’s Passover. ¹² I’ll pass through the land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. I’ll execute judgments on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. I’ll see the blood and pass over you. There will be no plague to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

²¹ Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Choose sheep for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. ²² Take a bundle of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. None of you is to go out of the doorway of his house until morning, ²³ because the Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the doorway, and won’t allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. ²⁴ You are to observe this event as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children forever. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the Lord will give you, just as he promised, you are to observe this ritual. ²⁶ And when your children say to you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’^{[a] 27} you are to say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelis in Egypt when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” Then the people bowed down and worshipped. ²⁸ The Israelis did this. Moses and Aaron did just what the Lord had commanded.

Philip Tells an Ethiopian about Jesus

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord told Philip, “Get up and go south on the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a deserted road.” ²⁷ So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, who was a member of the court of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was in charge of all her treasures and had come up to Jerusalem to worship. ²⁸ Now he was returning home, seated in his chariot, and reading from the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹ The Spirit told Philip, “Approach that chariot and stay near it.” ³⁰ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah out loud.

Philip^[a] asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

³¹ The man^[b] replied, “How can I unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him. ³² This was the passage of Scripture he was reading:

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet talking about? Himself? Or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began to speak, and, starting from this Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.

³⁶ As they were going along the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s some water. What keeps me from being baptized?”^{[e] 38} So he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and Philip^[f] baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch went on his way rejoicing and did not see Philip^[g] again. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus. As he was passing through that region,^[h] he kept proclaiming the good news in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.