Chapter 8

¹And Saul entirely approved of his being put to death.

A great persecution of the church in Jerusalem broke out that day, and they were all scattered over Judea and Samaria except the apostles. ²Some pious men buried Stephen and loudly lamented him. ³But Saul harassed the church. He went into one house after another, and dragging out men and women, put them in prison.

⁴Those who were scattered went from place to place preaching the good news of the message. ⁵Philip reached the city of Samaria, and proclaimed the Christ to them. ⁶When the people heard Philip and saw the signs that he showed they were all interested in what he had to say, ⁷for with loud cries foul spirits came out of many who had been possessed by them, and many paralytics and lame people were cured. ⁸So there was great rejoicing in that city.

⁹There was a man named Simon in the town, who had been amazing the Samaritan people by practicing magic there, and who made great pretensions. ¹⁰Everyone there, high and low, made much of him, and said,

“He must be what is known as the Great Power of God!”

¹¹They made much of him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. ¹²But when they believed Philip’s message of the good news of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, men and women alike accepted baptism. ¹³Even Simon himself believed and after his baptism devoted himself to Philip, and he was amazed at seeing such signs and great wonders taking place.

¹⁴When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. ¹⁵When they came, they prayed that the Samaritans might receive the holy Spirit, ¹⁶for it had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the holy Spirit. ¹⁸But when Simon saw that the holy Spirit was imparted through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹saying,

“Give me also this power to communicate the holy Spirit to anyone I place my hands upon.”

²⁰But Peter said to him,

“Go to destruction with your money, for thinking you could buy God’s gift with it! ²¹You have no share or part in this movement, for your heart is not honest in the sight of God. ²²So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, to see if you may not be forgiven for thinking of such a thing. ²³For I see that you are a bitter poison and a bundle of iniquity!”

²⁴Simon answered,

“You must pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things you have said may happen to me!”

²⁵After they had given their testimony and delivered the Lord’s message, they went back to Jerusalem, telling the good news in many Samaritan villages on the way.

²⁶But an angel of the Lord said to Philip,

“Get up and go south, by the road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (The town is now deserted.)

²⁷So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a member of the court of Candace, queen of Ethiopia, her chief treasurer, who had come up to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸and was on his way home. He was sitting in his car, reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip,

“Go up and stay by that car.”

³⁰Philip ran up and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and he said to him,

“Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹“Why, how can I,” he answered, “unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³²This was the passage of Scripture that he was reading:

“Like a sheep he was led away to be slaughtered,

And just as a lamb is dumb before its shearer,

He does not open his mouth.

³³His sentence ended in his humiliation.

Who will tell the story of his posterity?

For his life is perished from the earth.”

³⁴“Tell me, of whom is the prophet speaking?” said the eunuch to Philip, “Of himself, or of someone else?”

³⁵Then Philip began, and starting from this passage, he told him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶As they went on along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said,

“Here is some water! What is there to prevent my being baptized?”

³⁸So he ordered the car to stop, and Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord hurried Philip away, and the eunuch saw nothing more of him. Full of joy, he went on with his journey, ⁴⁰while Philip found himself at Ashdod and went on telling the good news in all the towns all the way to Caesarea.