Acts 8

Saul Ravages the Church

¹And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. ²Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.³But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Philip Proclaims Christ in Samaria

⁴Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.⁵Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.⁶And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did.⁷For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.⁸So there was much joy in that city.

Simon the Magician Believes

⁹But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great.¹⁰They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.”¹¹And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.¹²But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.¹³Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

¹⁴Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John,¹⁵who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit,¹⁶for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.¹⁷Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.¹⁸Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money,¹⁹saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”²⁰But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!²¹You have neither part nor lot 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, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.²³For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.”²⁴And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

²⁵Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

²⁶Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place.²⁷And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship²⁸and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.²⁹And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”³⁰So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”³¹And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.³²Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter

and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he opens not his mouth.

³³In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”³⁵Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.³⁶And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”³⁸And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, 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 more, and went on his way rejoicing.⁴⁰But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.