Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
6 Receiving sacrifices and offerings are not your primary concern.[a]
You make that quite clear to me.[b]
You do not ask for burnt sacrifices and sin offerings.
7 Then I say,
“Look, I come!
What is written in the scroll pertains to me.[c]
8 I want to do what pleases you,[d] my God.
Your law dominates my thoughts.”[e]
9 I have told the great assembly[f] about your justice.[g]
Look, I spare no words.[h]
O Lord, you know this is true.
10 I have not failed to tell about your justice;[i]
I spoke about your reliability and deliverance.
I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness.[j]
11 O Lord, you do not withhold[k] your compassion from me.
May your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me![l]
12 For innumerable dangers[m] surround me.
My sins overtake me
so I am unable to see;
they outnumber the hairs of my head
so my strength fails me.[n]
13 Please be willing, O Lord, to rescue me!
O Lord, hurry and help me![o]
14 May those who are trying to snatch away my life
be totally embarrassed and ashamed.[p]
May those who want to harm me
be turned back and ashamed.[q]
15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
be humiliated[r] and disgraced.[s]
16 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you.
May those who love to experience[t] your deliverance say continually,[u]
“May the Lord be praised!”[v]
17 I am oppressed and needy.[w]
May the Lord pay attention to me.[x]
You are my helper and my deliverer.
O my God, do not delay.
The Institution of the Passover
12 [a] The Lord said[b] to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,[c] 2 “This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year.[d] 3 Tell the whole community of Israel, ‘On the tenth day of this month they each[e] must take a lamb[f] for themselves according to their families[g]—a lamb for each household.[h] 4 If any household is too small[i] for a lamb,[j] the man[k] and his next-door neighbor[l] are to take[m] a lamb according to the number of people—you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat.[n] 5 Your lamb must be[o] perfect,[p] a male, one year old;[q] you may take[r] it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You must care for it[s] until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community[t] of Israel will kill it around sundown.[u] 7 They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it. 8 They will eat the meat the same night;[v] they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast[w] and with bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat it raw[x] or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails. 10 You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning. 11 This is how you are to eat it—dressed to travel,[y] your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.[z]
12 ‘I will pass through[aa] the land of Egypt in the same[ab] night, and I will attack[ac] all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals,[ad] and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.[ae] I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see[af] the blood I will pass over you,[ag] and this plague[ah] will not fall on you to destroy you[ai] when I attack[aj] the land of Egypt.[ak]
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel, and told them, “Go and select[a] for yourselves a lamb or young goat[b] for your families, and kill the Passover animals.[c] 22 Take a branch of hyssop,[d] dip it in the blood that is in the basin,[e] and apply to the top of the doorframe and the two side posts some of the blood that is in the basin. Not one of you is to go out[f] the door of his house until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike Egypt, and when he sees[g] the blood on the top of the doorframe and the two side posts, then the Lord will pass over the door, and he will not permit the destroyer[h] to enter your houses to strike you.[i] 24 You must observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe[j] this ceremony. 26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’[k]— 27 then you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice[l] of the Lord’s Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck[m] Egypt and delivered our households.’” The people bowed down low to the ground,[n] 28 and the Israelites went away and did exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.[o]
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 Then an angel of the Lord[a] said to Philip,[b] “Get up and go south[c] on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert[d] road.)[e] 27 So[f] he got up[g] and went. There[h] he met[i] an Ethiopian eunuch,[j] a court official of Candace,[k] queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He[l] had come to Jerusalem to worship,[m] 28 and was returning home, sitting[n] in his chariot, reading[o] the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran up[p] to it[q] and heard the man[r] reading the prophet Isaiah. He[s] asked him,[t] “Do you understand what you’re reading?” 31 The man[u] replied, “How in the world can I,[v] unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of scripture the man[w] was reading was this:
“He was led like a sheep to slaughter,
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did[x] not open his mouth.
33 In humiliation[y] justice was taken from him.[z]
Who can describe his posterity?[aa]
For his life was taken away[ab] from the earth.”[ac]
34 Then the eunuch said[ad] to Philip, “Please tell me,[ae] who is the prophet saying this about—himself or someone else?”[af] 35 So Philip started speaking,[ag] and beginning with this scripture[ah] proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him. 36 Now as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water! What is to stop me[ai] from being baptized?”[aj] 38 So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water,[ak] and Philip baptized[al] him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any more, but[am] went on his way rejoicing.[an] 40 Philip, however, found himself[ao] at Azotus,[ap] and as he passed through the area,[aq] he proclaimed the good news[ar] to all the towns[as] until he came to Caesarea.[at]
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