Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song of Praise

135 Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! Praise Him, O servants of the Lord, ² you who stand in the house of the Lord, within the walls of the house of our God. ³ Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praises to His name, for it is sweet. ⁴ For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself. Israel belongs to Him.

⁵ I know that the Lord is great. He is greater than all gods. ⁶ The Lord does whatever is pleasing to Him, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all waters. ⁷ He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning come with the rain. He brings the wind out from where He stores His riches.

⁸ He killed the first-born of Egypt, both man and animal. ⁹ He sent special things to see and did great works among you, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. ¹⁰ He crushed many nations and killed powerful kings, ¹¹ King Sihon of the Amorites, King Og of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan. ¹² And He gave their land as a gift, a gift to Israel His people. ¹³ O Lord, Your name lasts forever. O Lord, You will be remembered for all time. ¹⁴ For the Lord will decide in favor of His people. He will have loving-pity on His servants. ¹⁵ The gods of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. ¹⁶ They have mouths but they do not speak. They have eyes but they do not see. ¹⁷ They have ears but they do not hear. And there is no breath in their mouths. ¹⁸ Those who make them and those who trust in them will be like them.

¹⁹ O house of Israel, give honor and thanks to the Lord. O house of Aaron, give honor and thanks to the Lord. ²⁰ O house of Levi, give honor and thanks to the Lord. You who fear the Lord, give honor and thanks to the Lord. ²¹ Honor and thanks be to the Lord from Zion, Who lives in Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

False Gods in the House of God

8 On the fifth day of the sixth month in the sixth year, I was sitting in my house with the leaders of Judah sitting in front of me. And the hand of the Lord God came upon me there. ² Then I saw what looked like a man. From the center of His body and down to his feet, there was what looked like fire. And from the center of His body and up to his head, there was a bright light which looked like shining brass. ³ He put out what looked like a hand and caught me by the hair on my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me to see Jerusalem in a special way. He brought me to the north gate of the open space within its walls, and there was the seat of the false god which causes jealousy. ⁴ And I saw that the shining-greatness of the God of Israel was there, like what I had seen in the plain.

⁵ He said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked toward the north, and saw that to the north of the altar gate was this false god of jealousy in the doorway. ⁶ And the Spirit said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the people of Israel are doing? Do you see the hated sins that they are doing here to drive Me far from My holy place? But you will see even worse sins.”

⁷ Then He brought me to the gate of the open space, and I looked and saw a hole in the wall. ⁸ And He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall and saw a door. ⁹ He said to me, “Go in and see the hated sins that they are doing here.” ¹⁰ So I went in and looked. And I saw that on the wall all around were pictures of every kind of thing which moves along the ground, and wild animals, and hated things, and all the false gods of the people of Israel. ¹¹ Standing in front of these pictures were seventy leaders of the people of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each man held a dish in his hand from which the smell of special perfume rose up in a cloud. ¹² Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the leaders of the people of Israel are doing without anyone seeing them? They are worshiping in a room full of false gods. For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us. The Lord has left the land.’” ¹³ And He said to me, “You will see even worse sins which they are doing.”

¹⁴ Then He brought me to the north gate of the Lord’s house. And I saw women sitting there crying for the false god Tammuz. ¹⁵ Then He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even worse sins than this.”

¹⁶ He brought me into the open space of the Lord’s house. And I saw about twenty-five men at the gate to the house of the Lord, between the porch and the altar. Their backs were toward the Lord’s house, and their faces were toward the east. They were bowing toward the east worshiping the sun. ¹⁷ And He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it a little thing for the people of Judah to do the hated sins which they have done here? They have filled the land with sinful actions and have made Me angry again and again. See, they are doing what I hate. ¹⁸ So I will act in My anger. My eye will have no pity, and I will not let any go without punishment. Even if they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not listen to them.”

Philip and the Man from Ethiopia

²⁶ An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south. Take the road that goes down from Jerusalem to the country of Gaza. It goes through the desert.” ²⁷ Philip got up and went. A man from the country of Ethiopia had come to Jerusalem to worship. He had been made so he could not have children. He cared for all the riches that belonged to Candace who was Queen of Ethiopia. ²⁸ As he was going back home, he was sitting in his wagon reading about the early preacher Isaiah. ²⁹ The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that wagon and get on it.” ³⁰ Philip ran up to him. He saw that the man from Ethiopia was reading from the writings of the early preacher Isaiah and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ The man from Ethiopia said, “How can I, unless someone teaches me?” Then he asked Philip to come up and sit beside him.

³² He was reading the part in the Holy Writings which says He was taken like a lamb to be put to death. A sheep does not make a sound while its wool is cut. So He made no sound. ³³ No one listened to Him because of His shame. Who will tell the story of His day? For His life was taken away from the earth. ^(A)

³⁴ The man from Ethiopia said to Philip, “Who is the early preacher talking about, himself, or someone else?” ³⁵ So Philip started with this part of the Holy Writings and preached the Good News of Jesus to him.

³⁶ As they went on their way, they came to some water. The man from Ethiopia said, “See! Here is water. What is to stop me from being baptized?” ³⁷ (*Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The man said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”) ³⁸ He stopped the wagon. Then both Philip and the man from Ethiopia went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit took Philip away. The man from Ethiopia did not see Philip again. He went on his way full of joy. ⁴⁰ Philip found himself at the city of Azotus. Then Philip went through all the towns as far as the city of Caesarea preaching the Good News at each place.