Acts 8:17–40

¹⁷Then ^cthey laid their hands on them and ^dthey 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, ^e“May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God ^fwith money! ²¹You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for ^gyour heart is not right before God. ²²Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, ^hif possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³For I see that you are in ⁱthe gall³ of bitterness and in ^jthe bond of iniquity.” ²⁴And Simon answered, ^k“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, ^lpreaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

²⁶Now ^man angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south⁴ to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. ²⁷And he rose and went. And there was an ⁿEthiopian, a ^oeunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, ^pwho was in charge of all her treasure. ^qHe had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸and 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, ^r“How can I, unless someone ^sguides me?” And ^the invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³²Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

^u“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 ^vhumiliation 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 ^wbeginning with this Scripture ^xhe 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! ^yWhat prevents me from being baptized?”^{5 38}And 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, ^zthe Spirit of the Lord ^acarried 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.