Acts of the Apostles 8

¹ Now Saul was consenting to his execution.On that day, there broke out a severe persecution of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

² Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him.

³ Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the church; entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment.

⁴ Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.

⁵ Thus Philip went down to (the) city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.

⁶ With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.

⁷ For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured.

⁸ There was great joy in that city.

⁹ A man named Simon used to practice magic in the city and astounded the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great.

¹⁰ All of them, from the least to the greatest, paid attention to him, saying, "This man is the 'Power of God' that is called 'Great.'"

¹¹ They paid attention to him because he had astounded them by his magic for a long time,

¹² but once they began to believe Philip as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, men and women alike were baptized.

¹³ Even Simon himself believed and, after being baptized, became devoted to Philip; and when he saw the signs and mighty deeds that were occurring, he was astounded.

¹⁴ Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John,

¹⁵ who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit,

¹⁶ for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁷ Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit.

¹⁸ When Simon saw that the Spirit was conferred by the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money

¹⁹ and said, "Give me this power too, so that anyone upon whom I lay my hands may receive the holy Spirit."

²⁰ But Peter said to him, "May your money perish with you, because you thought that you could buy the gift of God with money.

²¹ You have no share or lot in this matter, for your heart is not upright before God.

²² Repent of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your intention may be forgiven.

²³ For I see that you are filled with bitter gall and are in the bonds of iniquity."

²⁴ Simon said in reply, "Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."

²⁵ So when they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem and preached the good news to many Samaritan villages.

²⁶ Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, "Get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route."

²⁷ So he got up and set out. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸ and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹ The Spirit said to Philip, "Go and join up with that chariot."

³⁰ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

³¹ He replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.

³² This was the scripture passage he was reading: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

³³ In (his) humiliation justice was denied him. Who will tell of his posterity? For his life is taken from the earth."

³⁴ Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply, "I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself, or about someone else?"

³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him.

³⁶ As they traveled along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?"

³⁷

³⁸ Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him.

³⁹ When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰ Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good news to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.