Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Passover

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ² “This month will be the very first month of the year for you. ³ Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth ⌞day⌟ of this month each man must take a lamb or a young goat for his family—one animal per household. ⁴ A household may be too small to eat a whole animal. That household and the one next door can share one animal. Choose your animal based on the number of people and what each person can eat. ⁵ Your animal must be a one-year-old male that has no defects. You may choose a lamb or a young goat. ⁶ Take care of it until the fourteenth ⌞day⌟ of this month.

“Then at dusk, all the assembled people from the community of Israel must slaughter their animals. ⁷ They must take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they will eat the animals. ⁸ The meat must be eaten that same night. It must be roasted over a fire and eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. ⁹ Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled but roast the whole animal over a fire. ¹⁰ Don’t leave any of it until morning. Anything left over in the morning must be burned up. ¹¹ This is how ⌞you should be dressed when⌟ you eat it: with your belt on, your sandals on your feet, and your shepherd’s staff in your hand. You must eat it in a hurry. It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² “On that same night I will go throughout Egypt and kill every firstborn male, both human and animal. I will severely punish all the gods of Egypt, ⌞because⌟ I am the Lord. ¹³ But the blood on your houses will be a sign for your protection. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Nothing will touch or destroy you when I strike Egypt.

²¹ Then Moses called for all the leaders of Israel. He said to them, “Pick out a lamb or a young goat for your families, and kill the Passover animal. ²² Take the branch of a hyssop plant, dip it in the blood which is in a bowl, and put some of the blood on the top and sides of the doorframes ⌞of your houses⌟. No one may leave the house until morning. ²³ The Lord will go throughout Egypt to kill the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, he will pass over that doorway, and he will not let the destroyer come into your home to kill you.

²⁴ “You must follow these instructions. They are a permanent law for you and your children. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. ²⁶ When your children ask you what this ceremony means to you, ²⁷ you must answer, ‘It’s the Passover sacrifice in the Lord’s honor. The Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he killed the Egyptians.’ ”

Then the people knelt, bowing with their faces touching the ground. ²⁸ The Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

Philip Tells an Ethiopian about Jesus

²⁶ An angel from the Lord said to Philip, “Get up, and take the desert road that goes south from Jerusalem to Gaza.” ²⁷ So Philip went.

An Ethiopian man who had come to Jerusalem to worship was on his way home. The man was a eunuch, a high-ranking official in charge of all the treasures of Queen Candace of Ethiopia. ²⁸ As the official rode along in his carriage, he was reading the prophet Isaiah out loud.

²⁹ The Spirit said to Philip, “Go to that carriage, and stay close to it.”

³⁰ Philip ran to the carriage and could hear the official reading the prophet Isaiah out loud. Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

³¹ The official answered, “How can I understand unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to sit with him in his carriage.

³² This was the part of the Scriptures that the official was reading:

³⁴ The official said to Philip, “I would like to know who the prophet is talking about. Is he talking about himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip spoke. Starting with that passage, Philip told the official the Good News about Jesus.

³⁶ As they were going along the road, they came to some water. The official said to Philip, “Look, there’s some water. What can keep me from being baptized?” ^{[a] 38} The official ordered the carriage to stop. He and Philip stepped into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they had stepped out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away. The official joyfully continued on his way and didn’t see Philip again.

⁴⁰ Philip found himself in the city of Azotus. He traveled through all the cities and spread the Good News until he came to the city of Caesarea.