Acts 8

1 And Saul consented to his death.

The Persecution of the Jerusalem Church

Now there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, excluding the apostles. 2 And pious men buried Stephen and made great mourning over him. 3 But Saul was devastating the church by entering house after house* and dragging off men and women, and delivering them to prison.

Philip’s Evangelistic Preaching in Samaria

4 Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.* 5 And Philip came down to the city of Samaria, and was preaching the Christ to them. 6 And the crowds were unanimously giving attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he was performing. 7 For with regard to* many of those who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them, crying out with a loud voice, and many who had been paralysed and lame were healed. 8 And there was much joy in that city.

9 But a certain man, Simon by name, had already been in the city, practising magic, and astonishing the people of Samaria, saying he was someone great. 10 They were all giving attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they were giving attention to him, because for a long time he had astonished them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip proclaiming the gospel concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women. 13 And Simon himself even believed, and after he was baptised, he stayed close to Philip. And when he saw the signs and great miracles being performed, he was astonished.

The Apostolic Delegates to Samaria

14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who went down and prayed for them in order that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 (for He had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus.)* 17 After that, they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

18 Now after Simon saw that the Spirit* was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give this power* to me as well, so that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could get the gift of God with money! 21 You have no share or portion in this matter, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord, if perhaps, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of unrighteousness.” 24 And Simon answered and said, “You pray to the Lord on my behalf, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

25 So when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord,* they returned to Jerusalem, and kept preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, saying, “Rise and go toward the south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) 27 And he arose and went. And behold, there was a man, an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasury, who had come to worship in Jerusalem 28 and was returning and sitting in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran up to it, and he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “So how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep, He was led to the slaughter

and like a lamb before the one shearing it, is silent,

so He opens not His mouth.

33 In His humiliation, justice was taken away from Him.

Who can describe His generation?

For His life is taken away from the earth.”*

34 And the eunuch answered and said to Philip, “I ask you, concerning whom does the prophet say this, concerning himself or concerning someone else?” 35 So Philip opened his mouth; and beginning from this Scripture, he preached the gospel to him concerning Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “Behold! Water! What prevents me from being baptised?”* 38 And he ordered the chariot to halt, and they both went down into the water (Philip and the eunuch), and he baptised him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch no longer saw him, but he went on his way, rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus. And as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Notes

3 Greek after the houses

4 One ancient Greek manuscript reads the word of God

7 The expression with regard to is supplied to the text based on context

16 One ancient Greek manuscript reads Lord Jesus Christ, while another divergently reads Christ Jesus

18 Some ancient manuscripts read Holy Spirit

19 Or authority

25 Some ancient manuscripts instead read the word of God

32-33 Quoted from Is. 53:7-8

37 The earliest manuscripts do not contain v. 37, which reads: And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, it is possible.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. ”

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