Acts 8:1–13

8And Saul approved of his murder.

Saul Persecutes the Church

That very day the church in Jerusalem began to suffer cruel persecution. All the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria. ²Some devout men buried Stephen, mourning for him with loud cries.

^3*But Saul tried to destroy the church; going from house to house, he dragged out the believers, both men and women, and threw them into jail.

The Gospel Is Preached in Samaria

⁴The believers who were scattered went everywhere, preaching the message. ⁵Philip went to the principal city^h in Samaria and preached the Messiah to the people there. ⁶The crowds paid close attention to what Philip said, as they listened to him and saw the miracles that he performed. ⁷Evil spirits came out from many people with a loud cry, and many paralysed and lame people were healed. ⁸So there was great joy in that city.

⁹A man named Simon lived there, who for some time had astounded the Samaritans with his magic. He claimed that he was someone great, ¹⁰and everyone in the city, from all classes of society, paid close attention to him. “He is that power of God known as ‘The Great Power’,” they said. ¹¹They paid this attention to him because for such a long time he had astonished them with his magic. ¹²But when they believed Philip’s message about the good news of the Kingdom of God and about Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³Simon himself also believed; and after being baptized, he stayed close to Philip and was astounded when he saw the great wonders and miracles that were being performed.