8 ¹ And Saul approved of their killing him.

Saul Persecutes the Church

That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.^{(A) 2} Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.^{(B) 3} But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.^(C)

Philip Preaches in Samaria

⁴ Now those who were scattered went from place to place proclaiming the word.^{(D) 5} Philip went down to the city^[a] of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah^[b] to them.^{(E) 6} The crowds with one accord listened eagerly to what was said by Philip, hearing and seeing the signs that he did, ⁷ for unclean spirits, crying with loud shrieks, came out of many who were possessed, and many others who were paralyzed or lame were cured.^{(F) 8} So there was great joy in that city.

⁹ Now a certain man named Simon had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he was someone great.^{(G) 10} All of them, from the least to the greatest, listened to him eagerly, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.”^{(H) 11} And they listened eagerly to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. ¹² But when they believed Philip, who was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.^{(I) 13} Even Simon himself believed. After being baptized, he stayed constantly with Philip and was amazed when he saw the signs and great miracles that took place.^(J)

¹⁴ Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.^{(K) 15} The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit^{(L) 16} (for as yet the Spirit had not come^[c] upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus).^{(M) 17} Then Peter and John^[d] laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.^{(N) 18} Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹ saying, “Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰ But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money!^{(O) 21} You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God.^{(P) 22} Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.”^{(Q) 24} Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you^[e] have said may happen to me.”

²⁵ Now after Peter and John^[f] had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news to many villages of the Samaritans.^(R)

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

²⁶ Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south^[g] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.)^{(S) 27} So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship^{(T) 28} and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.”^{(U) 30} So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³² Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.^{(W) 36} As they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?”^{[h](X) 38} He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip^[i] baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing.^{(Y) 40} But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.