Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise the Lord’s Wonderful Works. Vanity of Idols.

Vision of Repulsive Acts in Jerusalem

8 It came about in the ^[a]sixth year [of the captivity of King Jehoiachin], on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I sat in my house [near Babylon] with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord ^[b]God fell on me there. ² Then I looked, and behold, a likeness [of a man] with the appearance of fire; from His ^[c]loins downward He was like fire, and from His loins upward He had the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal (bronze). ³ He stretched out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of hair on my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner courtyard, where the seat of the idol (image) of ^[d]jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located.^{(A) 4} And behold, the glory and brilliance of the God of Israel [who had loved and chosen them] was there, like the vision which I saw in the plain.^(B)

⁵ Then He said to me, “Son of man, now raise your eyes toward the north.” So I looked toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this idol (image) of jealousy at the entrance. ⁶ Furthermore, He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great repulsive acts which the house of Israel is committing here, to drive Me far away from My sanctuary? But you will again see greater repulsive acts.”

⁷ Then He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard; and when I looked, behold, [there was] a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” And when I had dug into the wall, behold, there was an entrance. ⁹ And He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked, repulsive acts that they are committing here.” ¹⁰ So I entered and looked, and saw every kind of creeping things and beasts and loathsome things, and all the idols of the house of Israel, carved all around on the wall. ¹¹ Standing before these [images] were seventy elders of the house of Israel, and among them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan [the scribe], each man with his censer in his hand and a thick and fragrant cloud of incense was rising [as they prayed to these gods]. ¹² Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his [secret] room of carved images? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has abandoned the land.’” ¹³ He also said to me, “Yet again you will see even greater repulsive acts which they are committing.”

¹⁴ Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for ^[e]Tammuz. ¹⁵ He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater repulsive acts than these [that they are committing].”

¹⁶ So He brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch (vestibule, portico) and the [bronze] altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing down toward the east and worshiping the sun. ¹⁷ He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too slight a thing for the house of Judah to commit the repulsive acts which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and repeatedly provoked Me to anger? And behold, they are putting the ^[f]branch to their nose. ¹⁸ Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare [them]; and though they cry loudly in My ears, yet I will not listen to them.”^(C)

²⁶ But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the road that runs from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” (This is a desert road). ²⁷ So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch [a man of great authority], a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and he was returning, and sitting in his chariot he was reading [the scroll of] the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then the [Holy] Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” ³⁰ Philip ran up and heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah, and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “Well, how could I [understand] unless someone guides me [correctly]?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now this was the passage of Scripture which he was reading:

³⁴ The eunuch replied to Philip, “Please tell me, about whom does the prophet say this? About himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip spoke and beginning with this Scripture he preached Jesus to him [explaining that He is the promised Messiah and the source of salvation]. ³⁶ As they continued along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch exclaimed, “Look! Water! What forbids me from being baptized?” ^37 [a][Philip said to him, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] ³⁸ And he ordered that the chariot be stopped; and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord [suddenly] took Philip [and carried him] away [to a different place]; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at ^[b]Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the good news [of salvation] to all the cities, until he came to ^[c]Caesarea [Maritima].