Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise the Lord’s Wonderful Works. Vanity of Idols.

Vision of Abominations in Jerusalem

8 It came about 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 the Lord ^[a]God fell on me there. ² Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of ^[b]a man; from His loins and downward there was the ^(A)appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the appearance ^(B)of ^[c]glowing metal. ³ He stretched out the form of a hand and caught 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 ^[d]north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol 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)idol of jealousy at the entrance. ⁶ And He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great ^(H)abominations which the house of Israel are committing 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 wicked abominations that they are committing 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 committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘^(M)The Lord does not see us; the Lord has ^(N)forsaken the land.’” ¹³ And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing.”

¹⁴ Then He brought me to the entrance of the ^(O)gate of the Lord’s house 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 Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their ^(P)backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and ^(Q)they were ^[e]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 commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have ^(R)filled the land with violence and ^(S)provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose. ¹⁸ Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and ^(T)though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”

²⁶ But ^(A)an angel of the Lord spoke to ^(B)Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to ^(C)Gaza.” (^[a]This is a desert road.) ²⁷ So he got up and went; and ^(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 ^[b]chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then ^(F)the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this ^[c]chariot.” ³⁰ 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 The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, 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)preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ 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 [^[f]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 ^[g]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, ^[h]but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip ^[i]found himself at ^[j](N)Azotus, and as he passed through he ^(O)kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to ^(P)Caesarea.