Acts 8:25-40

An Ethiopian Receives Christ

25 So, when they had solemnly ¹testified and spoken ²the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were ³preaching the gospel to many villages of the ⁴Samaritans.

26 But ⁵an angel of the Lord spoke to ⁶Philip saying, "Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to ⁷Gaza." (This is a desert road. )

27 So he got up and went; and ⁸there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he ⁹had come to Jerusalem to worship,

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

29 Then ¹⁰the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot."

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: "¹¹HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.

33 "¹²IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION? 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 ¹³opened his mouth, and ¹⁴beginning from this Scripture he ¹⁵preached Jesus to him.

36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! ¹⁶What prevents me from being baptized?"

37 [And 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 chariot 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, ¹⁷the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.

40 But Philip found himself at ¹⁸Azotus, and as he passed through he ¹⁹kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to ²⁰Caesarea.

Cross References

• 1. Luke 16:28
• 2. Acts 13:12
• 3. Acts 8:40
• 4. Matthew 10:5
• 5. Acts 5:19; Acts 8:29
• 6. Acts 8:5
• 7. Genesis 10:19
• 8. Psalms 68:31; Psalms 87:4; Isaiah 56:3f
• 9. 1 Kings 8:41; John 12:20
• 10. Acts 8:39; Acts 10:19; Acts 11:12; Acts 13:2; Acts 16:6, 7; Acts 20:23; Acts 21:11; Acts 28:25; Hebrews 3:7
• 11. Isaiah 53:7
• 12. Isaiah 53:8
• 13. Matthew 5:2
• 14. Luke 24:27; Acts 17:2; Acts 18:28; Acts 28:23
• 15. Acts 5:42
• 16. Acts 10:47
• 17. 1 Kings 18:12; 2 Kings 2:16; Ezekiel 3:12, 14; Ezekiel 8:3; Ezekiel 11:1, 24; Ezekiel 43:5; 2 Corinthians 12:2
• 18. Joshua 11:22; 1 Samuel 5:1
• 19. Acts 8:25
• 20. Acts 9:30; Acts 10:1, 24; Acts 11:11; Acts 12:19; Acts 18:22; Acts 21:8, 16; Acts 23:23, 33; Acts 25:1, 4, 6, 13

Footnotes

• [a] Or "This city is deserted"
• [b] Or "carriage"
• [c] Or "carriage"
• [d] Or "describe"
• [e] Or "family" or "origin"
• [f] Early mss do not contain this v
• [g] Or "carriage"
• [h] Lit "for he was going"
• [i] Or "was found"
• [j] OT: Ashdod