Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 135^[a]

Praise of God, Benefactor of His People

^1 [b]Alleluia.

Chapter 8

Idolatry in the Temple.^{[a] 1} 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 beside me, suddenly the hand of the Lord fell upon me there.

² As I looked, I beheld a figure that had the form of a man. From the area of his waist downward, he appeared to be like fire, and upward from his waist, he seemed to have a brilliance like gleaming amber. ³ He stretched forth what appeared to be a hand and grasped me by a lock of my hair. A Spirit then lifted me up between earth and heaven, and in divine visions he brought me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the inner north gate, where stood the idol that arouses one to jealousy.^{[b] 4} The glory of the God of Israel was present before me, like the vision I had seen in the valley.

⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” I raised my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the temple gate, a statue of jealousy stood at the entrance. ⁶ He asked, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing? Behold the loathsome abominations that the house of Israel is engaging in here in their determination to drive me out of my sanctuary. And you will see still greater abominations.”

⁷ Then he brought me to the entrance of the court, where I perceived a hole in the wall. ⁸ He then ordered, “Son of man, dig through the wall.” After I dug through the wall, I beheld a door. ⁹ He said to me, “Enter and behold the vile abominations in which they are engaged there.”

¹⁰ I entered and looked around. Upon the wall were depicted the carved figures of every kind of creeping thing and loathsome animals and all the idols of the house of Israel.^{[c] 11} Before them stood seventy of the elders of the house of Israel, including Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan. Each of them held a censer in his hand, and all the fragrance of the incense ascended upward.

¹² Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each one at the shrine of his own idol? They think that the Lord has forsaken the land and that he does not see them.” ¹³ He also said to me, “You will see even greater abominations practiced by them.”

¹⁴ Next he took me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, where women were sitting, weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵ Then he said to me, “Son of man, do you see this? You will see even greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶ He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord. There, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, prostrating themselves toward the east before the rising sun.

¹⁷ Then he said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it not bad enough for the house of Judah to do the loathsome things they have done here? They have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger time after time. Observe how they put the branch to their nose.^{[d] 18} Therefore, I will turn against them in fury. I will not pity them or spare them. No matter how loudly they may cry out to me, I will not listen to them.”

²⁶ Baptism of a High Official.^[a] Then the angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and head south along the road that leads from Jerusalem down to Gaza, the desert road.” ²⁷ Therefore, he got up and set out.

Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,^[b] an official at the court of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸ and was now returning home. As he sat in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join that chariot.” ³⁰ When Philip ran up, he heard him reading from the prophet Isaiah, and he asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ He replied, “How can I, unless I have someone to instruct me?” Then he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.

³² This was the Scripture passage he had been reading:

³⁴ Then the eunuch said to Philip, “Please tell me, about whom is the prophet speaking—about himself or someone else?” ³⁵ And so Philip, starting with this text of Scripture, proceeded to explain to him the good news of Jesus.

³⁶ As they were traveling along the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, here is some water. What is to prevent me from being baptized?” [ ³⁷ And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch said in reply, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”]^{[c] 38} Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him.

³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ Philip, however, appeared in Azotus^[d] and continued his journey, proclaiming the good news in every town until he reached Caesarea.