First ReadingActs 8:26-40
From the Acts of the Apostles
26Then an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the waythat goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.This is a desert.”
27He arose and went;and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia,a eunuch of great authority under Candace,queen of the Ethiopians,who was over all her treasure,who had come to Jerusalem to worship.28He was returning and sitting in his chariot,and was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29The Spirit said to Philip,“Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”
30Philip ran to him,and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet,and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?”He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.32Now the passage of the Scripturewhich he was reading was this,
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.As a lamb before his shearer is silent,so he doesn’t open his mouth.33In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away.Who will declare His generation?For his life is taken from the earth.”
34The eunuch answered Philip,“Who is the prophet talking about?About himself, or about someone else?”
35Philip opened his mouth,and beginning from this Scripture,preached to him about Jesus.36As they went on the way, they came to some water;and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water.What is keeping me from being baptized?”38He commanded the chariot to stand still,and they both went down into the water,both Philip and the eunuch,and he baptized him.
39When they came up out of the water,the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away,and the eunuch didn’t see him any more,for he went on his way rejoicing.40But Philip was found at Azotus.Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.