Philip meets a man from Ethiopia

²⁶ Then an angel of the Lord God came to Philip. He said, ‘Philip, go south to the road between Jerusalem and Gaza which goes through the wilderness.’^[a]

²⁷ So Philip started on his journey. While he was going along this road, he met an important officer from Ethiopia. This man had authority over the queen of Ethiopia's money. The queen was called Candace. The officer was travelling home from Jerusalem. He had been there to worship God.^[b]

²⁸ Now the man was travelling home again in his chariot. He was reading something from the book that God's prophet Isaiah wrote. ²⁹ The Holy Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and walk beside it.’

³⁰ So Philip ran to the cart as it went along. The officer was reading aloud from the prophet Isaiah's book and Philip heard him. So Philip asked the man, ‘Do you understand the things that you are reading about?’