Moffatt(i)
26 but an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go south, along the road from Jerusalem to Gaza" (the desert-route).
27 So he got up and went on his way. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a high official of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians (he was her chief treasurer), who had come to Jerusalem for worship
28 and was on his way home. He was sitting in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah.
29 The Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join that chariot."
30 When Philip ran up, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. "Do you really understand what you are reading?"
31 he asked. "Why, how can I possibly understand it," said the eunuch, "unless some one puts me on the right track?" And he begged Philip to get up and sit beside him.
32 Now the passage of scripture which he was reading was as follows: — he was led like a sheep to be slaughtered, and as a lamb is dumb before the shearer, so he opens not his lips.
33 By humbling himself he had his doom removed. Who can tell his family? For his life is cut off from the earth.
34 So the eunuch said to Philip, "Pray, who is the prophet speaking about? Is it himself or someone else?"
35 Then Philip opened his lips, and starting from this scripture preached the gospel of Jesus to him.
36 As they travelled on, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Here is water! What is to prevent me being baptized?"
37 --
38 So he ordered the chariot to stop. Both of them stepped into the water, and Philip baptized the eunuch.
39 When they came up from the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch lost sight of him. He went on his way rejoicing,