Acts 8:1–40

¹Saul, for his part, was approving of the murder of him.

On that day great persecution arose against the congregation that was in Jerusalem; all except the apostles were scattered throughout the regions of Ju‧de′a and Sa‧mar′i‧a.²But reverent men carried Stephen to the burial, and they made a great lamentation over him.³Saul, though, began to deal outrageously with the congregation. Invading one house after another and, dragging out both men and women, he would turn them over to prison.

⁴However, those who had been scattered went through the land declaring the good news of the word.⁵Philip, for one, went down to the city of Sa‧mar′i‧a and began to preach the Christ to them.⁶With one accord the crowds were paying attention to the things said by Philip while they listened and looked at the signs he was performing.⁷For there were many that had unclean spirits, and these would cry out with a loud voice and come out. Moreover, many that were paralyzed and lame were cured.⁸So there came to be a great deal of joy in that city.

⁹Now in the city there was a certain man named Simon, who, prior to this, had been practicing magical arts and amazing the nation of Sa‧mar′i‧a, saying he himself was somebody great.¹⁰And all of them, from the least to the greatest, would pay attention to him and say: “This man is the Power of God, which can be called Great.”¹¹So they would pay attention to him because of his having amazed them for quite a while by his magical arts.¹²But when they believed Philip, who was declaring the good news of the kingdom of God and of the name of Jesus Christ, they proceeded to be baptized, both men and women.¹³Simon himself also became a believer, and, after being baptized, he was in constant attendance upon Philip; and he was amazed at beholding signs and great powerful works taking place.

¹⁴When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Sa‧mar′i‧a had accepted the word of God, they dispatched Peter and John to them;¹⁵and these went down and prayed for them to get holy spirit.¹⁶For it had not yet fallen upon any one of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.¹⁷Then they went laying their hands upon them, and they began to receive holy spirit.

¹⁸Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the hands of the apostles the spirit was given, he offered them money,¹⁹saying: “Give me also this authority, that anyone upon whom I lay my hands may receive holy spirit.”²⁰But Peter said to him: “May your silver perish with you, because you thought through money to get possession of the free gift of God.²¹You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not straight in the sight of God.²²Repent, therefore, of this badness of yours, and supplicate Jehovah that, if possible, the device of your heart may be forgiven you;²³for I see you are a poisonous gall and a bond of unrighteousness.”²⁴In answer Simon said: “YOU​ men, make supplication for me to Jehovah that none of the things ​YOU​ have said may come upon me.”

²⁵Therefore, when they had given the witness thoroughly and had spoken the word of Jehovah, they turned back to Jerusalem, and they went declaring the good news to many villages of the Sa‧mar′i‧tans.

²⁶However, Jehovah’s angel spoke to Philip, saying: “Rise and go to the south to the road that runs down from Jerusalem to Ga′za.” (This is a desert road.)²⁷With that he rose and went, and, look! an E‧thi‧o′pi‧an eunuch, a man in power under Can‧da′ce queen of the E‧thi‧o′pi‧ans, and who was over all her treasure. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship,²⁸but he was returning and was sitting in his chariot and reading aloud the prophet Isaiah.²⁹So the spirit said to Philip: “Approach and join yourself to this chariot.”³⁰Philip ran alongside and heard him reading aloud Isaiah the prophet, and he said: “Do you actually know what you are reading?”³¹He said: “Really, how could I ever do so, unless someone guided me?” And he entreated Philip to get on and sit down with him.³²Now the passage of Scripture that he was reading aloud was this: “As a sheep he was brought to the slaughter, and as a lamb that is voiceless before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.³³During his humiliation the judgment was taken away from him. Who will tell the details of his generation? Because his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴In answer the eunuch said to Philip: “I beg you, About whom does the prophet say this? About himself or about some other man?”³⁵Philip opened his mouth and, starting with this Scripture, he declared to him the good news about Jesus.³⁶Now as they were going over the road, they came to a certain body of water, and the eunuch said: “Look! A body of water; what prevents me from getting baptized?”³⁷——³⁸With that he commanded the chariot to halt, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.³⁹When they had come up out of the water, Jehovah’s spirit quickly led Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him anymore, for he kept going on his way rejoicing.⁴⁰But Philip was found to be in Ash′dod, and he went through the territory and kept on declaring the good news to all the cities until he got to Caes‧a‧re′a.