Acts 8:1–9:2

Saul the Persecutor

8Saul agreed with putting him to death.

On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria. ^p2Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him. ³Saul, ^qhowever, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison. ^r

Philip in Samaria

⁴So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the message of good news. ⁵Philip went down to a ^scity in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. ^t6The crowds paid attention with one mind to what Philip said, as they heard and saw the signs he was performing. ⁷For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. ^u8So there was great joy in that city.

The Response of Simon

⁹A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and astounded the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great. ^v10They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God!” ^wx11They were attentive to him because he had astounded them with his sorceries for a long time. ¹²But when they believed Philip, as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. ^y13Then even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he went around constantly with ^zPhilip and was astounded as he observed the signs and great miracles ^athat were being performed.

Simon’s Sin

¹⁴When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had welcomed God’s message, they sent Peter and John to them. ^b15After they went down there, they prayed for them, so the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶For He had not yet come down on ^cany of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ^d17Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Holy ^eSpirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹saying, “Give me this power too, so that anyone I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought the gift of God could be obtained with money! ^f21You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God. ^g22Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” ^h

²⁴“Please pray ⁱto the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” ^j

²⁵Then, after they had testified and spoken the message of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, evangelizing many villages of the Samaritans.

The Conversion of the Ethiopian Official

²⁶An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.) ^kl27So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch ^mand high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, ⁿwho was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem ^o28and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.

²⁹The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.” ^p

³⁰When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

³¹“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³²Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this:

He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

and as a lamb is silent before its shearer,

so He does not open His mouth.

³³In His humiliation justice was denied Him.

Who will describe His generation?

For His life is taken from the earth. ^qr

³⁴The eunuch replied to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about—himself or another person?” ³⁵So Philip proceeded ^sto tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning from that Scripture. ^t

³⁶As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water! What would keep me from being baptized?” [³⁷And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] ^u38Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. ³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord ^vcarried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer. But he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰Philip appeared in ^wAzotus, ^xand he was traveling and evangelizing all the towns until he came to Caesarea. ^y

The Damascus Road

9Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples ^zof the Lord. He went to the high priest ^a2and requested letters ^bfrom him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, ^che might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.