Acts 7:54-8:12

New American Standard Bible

Stephen Put to Death

⁵⁴Now when they heard this, they were ^(A)infuriated, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. ⁵⁵But he, being ^(B)full of the Holy Spirit, ^(C)looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing ^(D)at the right hand of God; ⁵⁶and he said, “Behold, I see the ^(E)heavens opened and ^(F)the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one ^[a]mind. ⁵⁸When they had ^(G)driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and ^(H)the witnesses ^(I)laid aside their cloaks at the feet of ^(J)a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹They went on stoning Stephen as he ^(K)called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰Then he ^(L)fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, ^(M)do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he ^[b]^(N)fell asleep.

Saul Persecutes the Church

8 ^(O)Now Saul approved of putting ^[c]Stephen to death.

And on that day a great persecution ^[d]began against ^(P)the church in Jerusalem, and they were all ^(Q)scattered throughout the regions of Judea and ^(R)Samaria, except for the apostles. ²Some devout men buried Stephen, and mourned loudly for him. ³But ^(S)Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and he would ^(T)drag away men and women and put them in prison.

Philip in Samaria

⁴Therefore, those ^(U)who had been scattered went through places ^[e]^(V)preaching the word. ⁵^(W)Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming the ^[f]Christ to them. ⁶The crowds were paying attention with one mind to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the ^[g]signs which he was performing. ⁷For in the case of many who had ^(X)unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been ^(Y)paralyzed or limped on crutches were healed. ⁸So there was ^(Z)much rejoicing in that city.

⁹Now a man named Simon had previously been practicing ^(AA)magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, ^(AB)claiming to be someone great; ¹⁰and all the people, from small to great, were paying attention to him, saying, “^(AC)This man is the Power of God that is called Great.” ¹¹And they were paying attention to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his ^(AD)magic arts. ¹²But when they believed Philip ^(AE)as he was preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were being ^(AF)baptized.