Chapter 8

A¹nd Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen’s death. ²On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. God-fearing men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him. ³But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

T⁴hose who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. ⁵Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them.

⁶The crowds all paid close attention to Philip’s message and to the signs they saw him perform. ⁷With loud shrieks, unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, and many of the paralyzed and lame were healed. ⁸So there was great joy in that city.

P⁹rior to that time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and astounded the people of Samaria. He claimed to be someone great, ¹⁰and all the people, from the least to the greatest, heeded his words and said, “This man is the divine power called the Great Power.” ¹¹They paid close attention to him because he had astounded them for a long time with his sorcery. ¹²But when they believed Philip as he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³Even Simon himself believed and was baptized. He followed Philip closely and was astounded by the great signs and miracles he observed.

¹⁴When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. ¹⁵On their arrival, they prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money. ¹⁹“Give me this power as well,” he said, “so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! ²¹You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God. ²²Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart. ²³For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.” ²⁴Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

²⁵And after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritan villages.

N²⁶ow an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” ²⁷So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸and on his return was sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that chariot and stay by it.” ³⁰So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. ³¹“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: ³³In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. ³⁴“Tell me,” said the eunuch, “who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” ³⁵Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

³⁶As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?”

³⁸And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.