Acts 8:17–40

¹⁷Then, when the two apostles began laying their hands on the people, they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Simon saw that the Spirit was given to people when the apostles laid their hands on them. So he offered the apostles money, ¹⁹saying, “Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands will receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰Peter said to him, “You and your money should both be destroyed, because you thought you could buy God’s gift with money. ²¹You cannot share with us in this work since your heart is not right before God. ²²Change your heart! Turn away from this evil thing you have done, and pray to the Lord. Maybe he will forgive you for thinking this. ²³I see that you are full of bitter jealousy and ruled by sin.”

²⁴Simon answered, “Both of you pray for me to the Lord so the things you have said will not happen to me.”

²⁵After Peter and John told the people what they had seen Jesus do and after they had spoken the message of the Lord, they went back to Jerusalem. On the way, they went through many Samaritan towns and preached the Good News to the people.

Philip Teaches an Ethiopian

²⁶An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get ready and go south to the road that leads down to Gaza from Jerusalem—the desert road.” ²⁷So Philip got ready and went. On the road he saw a man from Ethiopia, a eunuch. He was an important officer in the service of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians; he was responsible for taking care of all her money. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship. ²⁸Now, as he was on his way home, he was sitting in his chariot reading from the Book of Isaiah, the prophet. ²⁹The Spirit said to Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

³⁰So when Philip ran toward the chariot, he heard the man reading from Isaiah the prophet. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹He answered, “How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?” Then he invited Philip to climb in and sit with him. ³²The portion of Scripture he was reading was this:

“He was like a sheep being led to be killed.

He was quiet, as a lamb is quiet while its wool is being cut;

he never opened his mouth.

³³He was shamed and was treated unfairly.

He died without children to continue his family.

His life on earth has ended.”

³⁴The officer said to Philip, “Please tell me, who is the prophet talking about—himself or someone else?” ³⁵Philip began to speak, and starting with this same Scripture, he told the man the Good News about Jesus.

³⁶While they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The officer said, “Look, here is water. What is stopping me from being baptized?” ³⁷Philip answered, “If you believe with all your heart, you can.” The officer said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”^{n 38}Then the officer commanded the chariot to stop. Both Philip and the officer went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away; the officer never saw him again. And the officer continued on his way home, full of joy. ⁴⁰But Philip appeared in a city called Azotus and preached the Good News in all the towns on the way from Azotus to Caesarea.