Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

O Yahweh, Your Name Is Everlasting

Visions of Abominations in the Sanctuary

8 Now it happened in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of Lord Yahweh fell on me there. ² Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of ^[a]one on fire; from His loins and downward there was the ^(A)appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like ^(B)the gleam of ^[b]glowing metal. ³ He sent forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head; and the ^(C)Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the ^[c]north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the figure of jealousy, which ^(D)provokes to jealousy, was located. ⁴ And behold, the ^(E)glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.

⁵ Then He said to me, “Son of man, ^(F)raise your eyes now toward the north.” So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this ^(G)figure of jealousy at the entrance. ⁶ And He said to me, “Son of man, are you seeing what they are doing, the great ^(H)abominations which the house of Israel is doing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.”

⁷ Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, “Son of man, now ^(I)dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. ⁹ And He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.” ¹⁰ So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. ¹¹ Standing in front of them were ^(J)seventy ^(K)elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his ^(L)censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. ¹² Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘^(M)Yahweh does not see us; Yahweh has ^(N)forsaken the land.’” ¹³ And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are doing.”

¹⁴ Then He brought me to the entrance of the ^(O)gate of the house of Yahweh which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵ He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶ Then He brought me into the inner court of the house of Yahweh. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their ^(P)backs to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east; and ^(Q)they were ^[d]prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. ¹⁷ He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to do the abominations which they have done here, that they have ^(R)filled the land with violence and ^(S)provoked Me to anger still more? For behold, they are sending forth the twig to their nose. ¹⁸ Therefore, I also will do this in wrath: My eye will have no pity, nor will I spare; and ^(T)they will cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”

²⁶ But ^(A)an angel of the ^[a]Lord spoke to ^(B)Philip saying, “Rise up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to ^(C)Gaza.” (^[b]This is a desert road.) ²⁷ So he rose up and went; and behold, ^(D)there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he ^(E)had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and he was returning and sitting in his ^[c]chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then ^(F)the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this ^[d]chariot.” ³⁰ And Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

³⁴ And the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you earnestly, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip ^(I)opened his mouth, and ^(J)beginning from this Scripture he ^(K)proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him. ³⁶ And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, “Look! Water! ^(L)What prevents me from being baptized?” ^37 [g][And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] ³⁸ And he ordered the ^[h]chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, ^(M)the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch no longer saw him, ^[i]but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip ^[j]found himself at ^[k](N)Azotus, and as he passed through he ^(O)kept proclaiming the gospel to all the cities until he came to ^(P)Caesarea.