Acts 8:17–40

¹⁷Then they placed their^* hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Now Simon, when he^* saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, offered them money, ¹⁹saying, “Give to me also this power, so that whomever I place my^* hands on may receive the Holy Spirit!” ²⁰But Peter said to him, “May your silver be destroyed along with you,^g because you thought you could acquire^h the gift of God by means of money! ²¹You have noⁱ part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God. ²²Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and ask the Lord if perhaps the intent of your heart may be forgiven you!” ²³For I see you are in a state of bitter envy^j and bound by unrighteousness.”^{k 24}But Simon answered and^* said, “You pray to the Lord for me so that nothing of what you have said will come upon me.” ²⁵So when^* they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they turned back toward Jerusalem, and were proclaiming the good news to many villages of the Samaritans.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

²⁶Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Get up and go toward the south^l on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) ²⁷And he got up and^* went, and behold, there was a man, an Ethiopian eunuch (a court official of Candace,^m queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasury) who had come to worship in Jerusalem ²⁸and was returning and sitting in his chariot, and reading aloud the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹And the Spirit said to Philip, “Approach and join this chariot.” ³⁰So Philip ran up to it^* and^* heard him reading aloud Isaiah the prophet and said, “So then, do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹And he said, “So how could I, unless someone will guide me?” And he invited Philip to come up and^* sit with him. ³²Now the passage of scripture that he was reading aloud was this:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

³³In his^* humiliation justice was taken from him.

Who can describe his descendants?ⁿ

For his life was taken away from the earth.”^o

³⁴And the eunuch answered and^* said to Philip, “I ask you, about whom does the prophet say this—about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵So Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this scripture, proclaimed the good news to him about Jesus. ³⁶And as they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”^{p 38}And he ordered 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 did not see him any longer, for he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he^* passed through, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.