Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The People Worship Other Gods in the Temple

8 It was the sixth year since King Jehoiachin had been brought to Babylon as a prisoner. On the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house. The elders of Judah were sitting there with me. The power of the Lord and King came on me there. ² I looked up and saw a figure that appeared to be human. From his waist down he looked like fire. From his waist up he looked as bright as glowing metal. ³ He reached out what appeared to be a hand. He took hold of me by the hair of my head. The Spirit of the Lord lifted me up between earth and heaven. In visions God gave me, the Spirit took me to Jerusalem. He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the inner courtyard. The statue of a god was standing there. It made God very angry. ⁴ There in front of me was the glory of the God of Israel. It looked just as it did in the vision I had seen on the plain.

⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I did. I saw a statue that made God angry. It was in the entrance of the gate north of the altar.

⁶ He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the Israelites are doing here? They are doing things I hate very much. Those things will cause me to go far away from my temple. But you will see things I hate even more.”

⁷ Then he brought me to the entrance to the courtyard. I looked up and saw a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I did. And I saw a door there.

⁹ He continued, “Go through it. Look at the evil things they are doing here. I hate those things.” ¹⁰ So I went in and looked. All over the walls were pictures of all kinds of crawling things and “unclean” animals. The Lord hates it when people worship those things. There were also carvings of the gods of the people of Israel. ¹¹ In front of them stood 70 elders of Israel. Jaazaniah was standing there among them. He is the son of Shaphan. Each elder was holding a shallow cup. A sweet-smelling cloud of incense was rising from the cups.

¹² The Lord spoke to me. He said, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of Israel are doing in the dark? Each of them is in his own room worshiping his own god. They say, ‘The Lord doesn’t see us. He has deserted the land.’ ” ¹³ He continued, “You will see them doing things I hate even more.”

¹⁴ Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house. I saw women sitting there. They were mourning for the god named Tammuz. ¹⁵ The Lord said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing? You will see things I hate even more.”

¹⁶ Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’s house. About 25 men were there. They were at the entrance to the Lord’s temple between the porch and the altar. Their backs were turned toward the temple. Their faces were turned toward the east. And they were bowing down to the sun.

¹⁷ He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen all of this? The people of Judah are doing things here that I hate. This is a very serious matter. They are harming one another all through the land. They continue to make me very angry. Just look at them making fun of me! ¹⁸ So I am angry with them. I will punish them. I will not spare them or feel sorry for them. They might even shout in my ears. But I will not listen to them.”

Philip and the Man From Ethiopia

²⁶ An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip. “Go south to the desert road,” he said. “It’s the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” ²⁷ So Philip started out. On his way he met an Ethiopian official. The man had an important position in charge of all the wealth of the Kandake. Kandake means queen of Ethiopia. This official had gone to Jerusalem to worship. ²⁸ On his way home he was sitting in his chariot. He was reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹ The Holy Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot. Stay near it.”

³⁰ So Philip ran up to the chariot. He heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you’re reading?” Philip asked.

³¹ “How can I?” he said. “I need someone to explain it to me.” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³² Here is the part of Scripture the official was reading. It says,

³⁴ The official said to Philip, “Tell me, please. Who is the prophet talking about? Himself, or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began with that same part of Scripture. He told him the good news about Jesus.

^36-37 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water. The official said, “Look! Here is water! What can stop me from being baptized?” ³⁸ He gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the official went down into the water. Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away. The official did not see him again. He went on his way full of joy. ⁴⁰ Philip was seen next at Azotus. From there he traveled all around. He preached the good news in all the towns. Finally he arrived in Caesarea.