Acts 8:1-40 (New American Standard)

Saul Persecutes the Church

1 ¹Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution^a began against² the church in Jerusalem, and they were all³ scattered throughout the regions of Judea and ⁴ Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But ⁵Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and ⁶dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

Philip in Samaria

4 Therefore, those ⁷who had been scattered went about ^b8preaching the word. 5 ⁹Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming ^cChrist to them. 6 The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the ^dsigns which he was performing. 7 For in the case of many who had ¹⁰unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice ; and many who had been ¹¹paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 So there was ¹²much rejoicing in that city. 9 Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing ¹³magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, ¹⁴claiming to be someone great ; 10 and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, "¹⁵This man is what is called the Great Power of God." 11 And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his ¹⁶magic arts. 12 But when they believed Philip ¹⁷preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being ¹⁸baptized, men and women alike. 13 Even Simon himself believed ; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed ¹⁹signs and ²⁰great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. 14 Now when ²¹the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them ²²Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them ²³that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For He had ²⁴not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been ²⁵baptized ^ein the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they ²⁶began laying their hands on them, and they were ²⁷receiving the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, "Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 20 But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could ²⁸obtain the gift of God with money ! 21 "You have ²⁹no part or portion in this ^fmatter, for your heart is not ³⁰right before God. 22 "Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, ³¹if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 "For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in ³²the ^gbondage of iniquity." 24 But Simon answered and said, "³³Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."

An Ethiopian Receives Christ

25 So, when they had solemnly ³⁴testified and spoken ³⁵the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were ³⁶preaching the gospel to many villages of the ³⁷Samaritans. 26 But ³⁸an angel of the Lord spoke to ³⁹Philip saying, "Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to ⁴⁰Gaza." (^hThis is a desert road. ) 27 So he got up and went ; and ⁴¹there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure ; and he ⁴²had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was returning and sitting in his ⁱchariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then ⁴³the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this ^jchariot." 30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading ?" 31 And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this : "⁴⁴HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER ; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. 33 "⁴⁵IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY ; WHO WILL ^kRELATE HIS ^lGENERATION ? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH." 34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this ? Of himself or of someone else ?" 35 Then Philip ⁴⁶opened his mouth, and ⁴⁷beginning from this Scripture he ⁴⁸preached Jesus to him. 36 As they went along the road they came to some water ; and the eunuch said, "Look ! Water ! ⁴⁹What prevents me from being baptized ?" 37 [^mAnd Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."] 38 And he ordered the ⁿchariot to stop ; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, ⁵⁰the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away ; and the eunuch no longer saw him, ^obut went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip ^pfound himself at ^q51Azotus, and as he passed through he ⁵²kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to ⁵³Caesarea.