Acts 8

¹Now Saul was consenting to his killing. And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

²And devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

³But Saul was ravaging the church, entering house after house, dragging off men and women and handing them over to prison.

⁴Now those who were scattered went about proclaiming the word.

⁵Now Philip went down to the main city of Samaria and began proclaiming the Christ to them.

⁶And the crowds with one accord were paying attention to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs that he was performing.

⁷For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out crying with a loud voice, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

⁸And there was great joy in that city.

⁹Now a certain man named Simon had previously been in the city practicing sorcery and amazing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great.

¹⁰All of them, from the least to the greatest, were paying attention to him, saying, 'This man is the power of God that is called Great.'

¹¹And they were paying attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic arts.

¹²But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they began to be baptized, both men and women.

¹³And Simon himself also believed, and having been baptized, he devoted himself to Philip, and as he observed the signs and great miracles being performed, he was amazed.

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

¹⁵These two came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

¹⁶For the Spirit had not yet fallen on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁷Then they were laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the hands of the apostles, he offered them money,

¹⁹saying, Give this authority to me also, so that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

²⁰But Peter said to him, Your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

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

²²Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, he may forgive you for the intent of your heart.

²³For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.

²⁴Simon answered and said, Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.

²⁵So when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they began returning to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news to many villages of the Samaritans as they went.

²⁶Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Get up and go south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza (this is a desert road).

²⁷And he rose and went. And behold, a man, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸He was returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go up and join this chariot.

³⁰So Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, Do you really understand what you are reading?

³¹He said, How in the world can I, unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²Now the passage of Scripture that he was reading was this: Like a sheep he was led to slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth.

³³In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will describe his generation? For his life was taken from the earth.

³⁴The eunuch said to Philip, I ask you, about whom does the prophet say this? About himself, or about someone else?

³⁵Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning from this Scripture, proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.

³⁶And as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, Look, there is water! What prevents me from being baptized?

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

³⁹And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no longer and went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰But Philip was found at Azotus, and as he passed through, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.