Acts 8:17–40

¹⁷then were they laying hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸And Simon, having beheld that through the laying on of the hands of the apostles, the Holy Spirit is given, brought before them money, ¹⁹saying, ‘Give also to me this authority, that on whomsoever I may lay the hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit.’ ²⁰And Peter said unto him, ‘Thy silver with thee—may it be to destruction! because the gift of God thou didst think to possess through money; ²¹thou hast neither part nor lot in this thing, for thy heart is not right before God; ²²reform, therefore, from this thy wickedness, and beseech God, if then the purpose of thy heart may be forgiven thee, ²³for in the gall of bitterness, and bond of unrighteousness, I perceive thee being.’ ²⁴And Simon answering, said, ‘Beseech ye for me unto the Lord, that nothing may come upon me of the things ye have spoken.’ ²⁵They indeed, therefore, having testified fully, and spoken the word of the Lord, did turn back to Jerusalem; in many villages also of the Samaritans they did proclaim good news.

²⁶And a messenger of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, ‘Arise, and go on toward the south, on the way that is going down from Jerusalem to Gaza,’—this is desert. ²⁷And having arisen, he went on, and lo, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch, a man of rank, of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to worship to Jerusalem; ²⁸he was also returning, and is sitting on his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹And the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go near, and be joined to this chariot;’ ³⁰and Philip having run near, heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, ‘Dost thou then know what thou dost read?’ ³¹and he said, ‘Why, how am I able, if some one may not guide me?’ he called Philip also, having come up, to sit with him. ³²And the contents of the Writing that he was reading was this: ‘As a sheep unto slaughter he was led, and as a lamb before his shearer dumb, so he doth not open his mouth; ³³in his humiliation his judgment was taken away, and his generation—who shall declare? because taken from the earth is his life.’ ³⁴And the eunuch answering Philip said, ‘I pray thee, about whom doth the prophet say this? about himself, or about some other one?’ ³⁵and Philip having opened his mouth, and having begun from this Writing, proclaimed good news to him—Jesus. ³⁶And as they were going on the way, they came upon a certain water, and the eunuch said, ‘Lo, water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?’ ³⁷And Philip said, ‘If thou dost believe out of all the heart, it is lawful;’ and he answering said, ‘I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God;’ ³⁸and he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down to the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him; ³⁹and when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more, for he was going on his way rejoicing; ⁴⁰and Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through, he was proclaiming good news to all the cities, till his coming to Caesarea.

Chapter 9