OLD TESTAMENT READINGS FOR SUNDAYS IN EASTERTIDE
For those who require an Old Testament reading on the Sundays in Eastertide, provision is made for the Church of England or Church of Ireland/Church in Wales. If these are used, the reading from Acts must be used as the Second Reading.


EASTER 5 YEAR B


FIRST READING (Alternative readings)

Either Acts 8.26-40

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
26 An angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' (This is a wilderness road.)
27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship
28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over to this chariot and join it.'
30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'
31 He replied, 'How can I, unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.
32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: 'Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.'
34 The eunuch asked Philip, 'About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?'
35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, 'Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?'
38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.


Or either Baruch 3.9-15, 32-36; 4.1-4 (Church Of England first alternative reading)
If this is used, the reading from Acts (above) must be used as the Second Reading.

A reading from the book of the prophet Baruch.
9 Hear the commandments of life, O Israel; give ear, and learn wisdom!
10 Why is it, O Israel, why is it that you are in the land of your enemies, that you are growing old in a foreign country, that you are defiled with the dead,
11 that you are counted among those in Hades?
12 You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.
13 If you had walked in the way of God, you would be living in peace for ever.
14 Learn where there is wisdom, where there is strength, where there is understanding, so that you may at the same time discern where there is length of days, and life, where there is light for the eyes, and peace.
15 Who has found her place? And who has entered her storehouses?
32 But the one who knows all things knows her, he found her by his understanding. The one who prepared the earth for all time filled it with four-footed creatures;
33 the one who sends forth the light, and it goes; he called it, and it obeyed him, trembling;
34 the stars shone in their watches, and were glad; he called them, and they said, 'Here we are!' They shone with gladness for him who made them.
35 This is our God; no other can be compared to him.
36 He found the whole way to knowledge, and gave her to his servant Jacob and to Israel, whom he loved.
1 She is the book of the commandments of God, the law that endures for ever. All who hold her fast will live, and those who forsake her will die.
2 Turn, O Jacob, and take her; walk towards the shining of her light.
3 Do not give your glory to another, or your advantages to an alien people.
4 Happy are we, O Israel, for we know what is pleasing to God.

Or Genesis 22.1-18 (Church Of England second alternative reading )
If this is used, the reading from Acts (above) must be used as the Second Reading.

A reading from the book of Genesis.
1 God tested Abraham. He said to him, 'Abraham!' And Abraham said, 'Here I am.'
2 God said, 'Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.'
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt-offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him.
4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away.
5 Then Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.'
6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, 'Father!' And Abraham said, 'Here I am, my son.' Isaac said, 'The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?'
8 Abraham said, 'God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.' So the two of them walked on together.
9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, 'Abraham, Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'
12 The angel said, 'Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.'
13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt-offering instead of his son.
14 So Abraham called that place 'The LORD will provide'; as it is said to this day, 'On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.'
15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
16 and said, 'By myself I have sworn, says the LORD: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies,
18 and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.'

Or Deuteronomy 4.32-40 (Church of Scotland/Church in Wales alternative)
If this is used, the reading from Acts (above) must be used as the Second Reading.

A reading from the book of Deuteronomy.
Moses said to the people:
32 Ask now about former ages long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of?
33 Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard and lived?
34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
35 To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.
36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his words coming out of the fire.
37 And because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,
38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today.
39 So acknowledge today and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
40 Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.


PSALM Psalm 22.24-30

RR All the ends of the earth shall turn to you, O Lord.

24 My praise is of him in the great assembly, I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.
25 The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord shall praise him: 'May your heart live for ever!' RR
26 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.
27 For kingship belongs to the Lord; he rules over the nations. RR
28 To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; all who go down to the dust fall before him.
29 My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him; they shall be known as the Lord's for ever.
30 They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn the saving deeds that he has done. RR


SECOND READING (Alternative readings)

Either If the reading from Acts has been used as the first reading.

1 John 4.7-21

A reading from the first letter of John.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world.
15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.
16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.
21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

OrIf the Old Testament reading has been used as the first reading.

Acts 8.26-40

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
26 An angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' (This is a wilderness road.)
27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship
28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over to this chariot and join it.'
30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'
31 He replied, 'How can I, unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.
32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: 'Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.'
34 The eunuch asked Philip, 'About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?'
35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, 'Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?'
38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.


GOSPEL John 15.1-8

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Jesus said to his disciples:
1 'I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower.
2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.
4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.'