Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
An Ethiopian Asks about Isaiah 53
26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Get up, and go south on the road going down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) 27 So he got up and went. And behold, an Ethiopian eunuch—an official who was responsible for all the treasure of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians—had traveled to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was now returning. Sitting in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29 The Ruach said to Philip, “Go, catch up with this chariot.”
30 Philip ran up and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of Scripture that he was reading was this:
“He was led as a sheep to slaughter;
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so He opens not His Mouth.
33 In His humiliation justice was denied Him.
Who shall recount His generation?
For His life is taken away from the earth.”[a]
34 The eunuch replied to Philip, “Please tell me, who is the prophet talking about—himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he proclaimed the Good News about Yeshua.
36 Now as they were going down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, water! What’s to prevent me from being immersed?”
37 [b] 38 He ordered the chariot to stop. They both got down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and Philip immersed him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Ruach Adonai snatched Philip away.[c] The eunuch saw no more of him, for he went on his way, rejoicing.
40 But Philip found himself at Azotus. And as he passed through, he kept proclaiming the Good News to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
25 For He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the lowly one.
Nor has He hidden His face from him,
but when he cried to Him, He heard.
26 From You is my praise in the great assembly.
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear Him.
27 Let the poor eat and be satisfied.
Let them who seek after Him praise Adonai.
May your hearts live forever!
28 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to Adonai.
All the families of the nations will bow down before You.
29 For the kingdom belongs to Adonai,
and He rules over the nations.
30 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship.
Everyone who goes down to the dust will kneel before Him—
even the one who could not keep his own soul alive.
31 His posterity will serve him, telling
the next generation about my Lord.
God’s Life-Giving Spirit of Love
7 Loved ones, let us love one another, for love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 The love of God was revealed among us by this—that God sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 This is love—not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atonement for our sins.
11 Loved ones, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God.[a] If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is made perfect in us. 13 We know that we abide in Him and He in us by this—because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son as Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Yeshua is Ben-Elohim, God abides in him and he abides in God. 16 So we have come to know and trust in the love that God has for us. God is love. Now whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
God’s Fulfilling Love
17 In this way, love is made perfect among us, so that we should have boldness on the Day of Judgment. For just as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and the one who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us.
Love God—Love God’s Family
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that the one who loves God should also love his brother.[b]
Abiding in the Vine
15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He trims so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and is dried up. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned.
7 “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. 8 In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.