Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
135 Praise ye the Lord, praise ye the name of the Lord! Praise Him, O ye servants of the Lord!
2 Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God,
3 praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praises unto His name, for it is pleasant.
4 For the Lord hath chosen Jacob for Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure.
5 For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.
6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all deep places.
7 He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings for the rain; He bringeth the wind out of His treasuries.
8 He smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast.
9 He sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants.
10 He smote great nations, and slew mighty kings:
11 Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan;
12 and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage unto Israel His people.
13 Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever, and Thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.
14 For the Lord will judge His people, and He will repent Himself concerning His servants.
15 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
16 They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
17 they have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths.
18 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth 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 dwelleth in Jerusalem! Praise ye the Lord!
8 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me.
2 Then I beheld, and lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of His loins even downward, fire, and from His loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber.
3 And He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate 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 vision 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 beheld 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 committeth here, that I should depart far off from My sanctuary? But turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater 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 dug in the wall, behold, a door.
9 And He said unto me, “Go in, and behold 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 ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man 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, every man in the chambers of his images? For they say, ‘The Lord seeth us not. The Lord hath forsaken the earth.’”
13 He said also unto me, “Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.”
14 Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’S house which was 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 door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped 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 returned to provoke Me to anger; and lo, they put the branch to their nose.
18 Therefore will I also deal in fury. 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 And the angel of the Lord spoke unto Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south unto the road that goeth down from Jerusalem into Gaza, which 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 had charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem to worship,
28 was returning; and sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, “Go near and join thyself to this chariot.”
30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Understandest thou what thou readest?”
31 And he said, “How can I, unless some man should guide me?” And he besought Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
32 The place of the Scripture from which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb before his shearer is dumb, 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 speaketh the prophet this? Of himself, or of some other man?”
35 Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What doth hinder me from being baptized?”
37 And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” 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 both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
39 And when they had come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip. And the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through, he preached in all the cities until he came to Caesarea.
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