Acts 8

CHAPTER 8

Saul Persecutes the Church

^1aNow Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.

And on that day a great persecution ¹began against ^bthe church in Jerusalem, and they were all ^cscattered throughout the regions of Judea and ^dSamaria, except the apostles.

²And some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.

³But ^aSaul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and ^bdragging off men and women, he was delivering them into prison.

Philip Preaches in Samaria

⁴Therefore, those ^awho had been scattered went about, ^bproclaiming the good news of the word.

^5aNow Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching ¹Christ to them.

⁶And the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the ¹signs which he was doing.

⁷For in the case of many who had ^aunclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been ^bparalyzed and lame were healed.

⁸So there was ^agreat joy in that city.

⁹Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing ^amagic in the city and astounding the people of Samaria, ^bclaiming to be someone great;

¹⁰and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “^aThis man is what is called the Great Power of God.”

¹¹And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astounded them with his ^amagic arts.

¹²But when they believed Philip ^aproclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being ^bbaptized, both men and women.

¹³Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed ^asigns and ^bgreat miracles taking place, he was constantly astounded.

¹⁴Now when ^athe apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them ^bPeter and John,

¹⁵who came down and prayed for them ^athat they might receive the Holy Spirit.

¹⁶For He had ^anot yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been ^bbaptized ¹in the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁷Then they ^abegan laying their hands on them, and they were ^breceiving the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Now when Simon saw that the Spirit had been bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

¹⁹saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you supposed you could ^aobtain the gift of God with money!

²¹“You have ^ano part or portion in this ¹matter, for your heart is not ^bright before God.

²²“Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray earnestly to the Lord that, ^aif possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.

²³“For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in ^athe ¹bondage of unrighteousness.”

²⁴But Simon answered and said, “^aPray earnestly to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

An Ethiopian Receives Christ

²⁵So, when they had solemnly ^aborne witness and spoken ^bthe word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were ^cproclaiming the gospel to many villages of the ^dSamaritans.

²⁶But ^aan angel of the ¹Lord spoke to ^bPhilip saying, “Rise up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to ^cGaza.” (²This is a desert road.)

²⁷So he rose up and went; and behold, ^athere was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he ^bhad come to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸and he was returning and sitting in his ¹chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹Then ^athe Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this ¹chariot.”

³⁰And Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

“^aAs a sheep is led to slaughter;

And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,

So He does not open His mouth.

³³“^aIn humiliation His judgment was taken away;

Who will ¹recount His ²generation?

For His life is removed from the earth.”

³⁴And the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you earnestly, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?”

³⁵Then Philip ^aopened his mouth, and ^bbeginning from this Scripture he ^cproclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.

³⁶And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch ^*said, “Look! Water! ^aWhat prevents me from being baptized?”

³⁷¹[And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”]

³⁸And he ordered the ¹chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, ^athe Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch no longer saw him, ¹but went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰But Philip ¹found himself at ^2aAzotus, and as he passed through he ^bkept proclaiming the gospel to all the cities until he came to ^cCaesarea.