Acts 8:26-40

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

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

27 And he got up [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 reading aloud the prophet Isaiah.

29 And the Spirit said to Philip, "Approach and join this chariot."

30 So Philip ran up to [it] [and] heard him reading aloud Isaiah the prophet and said, "So then, do you understand what you are reading?"

31 And he said, "So how could I, unless someone will guide me?" And he invited Philip to come up [and] sit with him.

32 Now the passage of scripture that he was reading aloud was this: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer [is] silent, so he did not open his mouth.

33 In his humiliation justice was taken from him. Who can describe his {descendants}? For his life was taken away from the earth."

34 And the eunuch answered [and] said to Philip, "I ask you, about whom does the prophet say this--about himself or about someone else?"

35 So Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this scripture, proclaimed the good news to him [about] Jesus.

36 And as they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"

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

39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer, for he went on his way rejoicing.

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

Footnotes

• [a] Or "go about noon"
• [b] *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("got up") has been translated as a finite verb
• [c] Or "the Candace" (the title of the queen of Ethiopia)
• [d] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [e] *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("ran up to") has been translated as a finite verb
• [f] *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("come up") has been translated as an infinitive
• [g] *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
• [h] Or perhaps "family history"; literally "generation"
• [i] A quotation from Isa 53:7-8
• [j] *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("answered") has been translated as a finite verb
• [k] A few later manuscripts add v. 37, with minor variations: "He said to him, 'If you believe with your whole heart, you may.' And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.'" The verse is almost certainly not an original part of the text of Acts.
• [l] *Here "[as]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("passed through") which is understood as temporal