Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise for Jehovah’s wonderful works. Vanity of idols.

8 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me. ² Then I beheld, and, lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire; and from his loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, ^[a]as it were glowing metal. ³ And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. ⁴ And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the ^[b]appearance that I saw in the plain.

⁵ Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. ⁶ And he said unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, ^[c]that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But ^[d]thou shalt again see yet other great abominations.

⁷ And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. ⁸ Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold, a door. ⁹ And he said unto me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here. ¹⁰ So I went in and saw; and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. ¹¹ And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odor of the cloud of incense went up. ¹² Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his chambers of imagery? for they say, Jehovah seeth us not; Jehovah hath forsaken the land. ¹³ He said also unto me, Thou shalt again see yet other great abominations which they do.

¹⁴ Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵ Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? thou shalt again see yet greater abominations than these.

¹⁶ And he brought me into the inner court of Jehovah’s house; and behold, at the door of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east. ¹⁷ Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. ¹⁸ Therefore will I also deal in wrath; mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

²⁶ But an angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go ^[a]toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza: the same is desert. ²⁷ And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship; ²⁸ and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ And the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. ³⁰ And Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? ³¹ And he said, How can I, except some one shall guide me? And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this,

³⁴ And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other? ³⁵ And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture, ^[c]preached unto him Jesus. ³⁶ And as they went on the way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch saith, Behold, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?^{[d] 38} And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. ³⁹ And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, for he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he ^[e]preached the gospel to all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.