Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
1 ¶ Halelu-JAH. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye slaves of the LORD.
2 Ye that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God,
3 praise JAH; for the LORD is good; sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.
4 For JAH has chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his own possession.
5 ¶ For I know that the LORD is great and that our Lord is above all gods.
6 Whatever the LORD desired, he did in the heavens and in the earth, in the seas and in all the deep places.
7 He who causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth, made the lightnings in the rain; he who brings the winds out of his treasuries.
8 He who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast;
9 sent signs and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his slaves.
10 He who smote many Gentiles and slew mighty kings,
11 Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan
12 gave their land for a heritage, a heritage unto Israel his people.
13 Thy name, O LORD, is eternal, and thy memorial, O LORD, from generation to generation.
14 For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his slaves.
15 ¶ The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
16 They have a mouth, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see;
17 they have ears, but they do not hear; neither is there any spirit in their mouths.
18 Let those that make them become like unto them and every one that trusts in them.
19 Bless the LORD, O house of Israel; bless the LORD, O house of Aaron:
20 Bless the LORD, O house of Levi; ye that fear the LORD, bless the LORD.
21 Blessed be the LORD out of Zion who dwells at Jerusalem. Halelu-JAH.
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 GOD fell there upon me.
2 And I saw, and behold a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins downward was fire; and from his loins upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.
3 And that likeness put forth his hand and took me by the locks of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the heaven and the earth and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looks toward the north where the habitation of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy.
4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there like the vision that I saw in the plain.
5 Then he said unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here to cause me to go far away from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.
7 ¶ And he brought me to the entrance 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 dug 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 serpent and beasts; the abomination 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, each man with his censer in his hand; and a thick 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, each man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the earth.
13 ¶ He also said unto me: Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the door of the LORD’s house which is toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and, behold, at the entrance of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped 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 after they have filled the land with evil and have returned to provoke me to anger; behold, they put the stench to my nose.
18 Therefore I will also deal in fury: my eye shall not forgive, neither will I have mercy: and they shall cry in my ears with a loud voice; yet I will not hear them.
26 ¶ And the angel of the Lord spoke unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto the way that goes down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
27 Then he arose and went, and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem to worship,
28 was returning and sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet.
29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot.
30 And Philip ran there to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, Dost thou understand what thou readest?
31 And he said, How can I, except someone should guide me? And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth;
33 in his humiliation his judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
34 And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom does the prophet speak this? of himself or of some other?
35 Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him the gospel of Jesus.
36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what hinders me to be baptized?
37 And Philip said, If thou dost believe with all thine heart, thou may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went both down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, so that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through, he preached the gospel in all the cities until he came to Caesarea.
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