Simon the Sorcerer

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery(A) in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,(B) 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.”(C) 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.

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18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!(A) 21 You have no part or share(B) in this ministry, because your heart is not right(C) before God.

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They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer(A) and false prophet(B) named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul,(C) Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer(D) (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul(E) from the faith.(F) Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,(G) looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil(H) and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?(I) 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you.(J) You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”(K)

Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul(L) saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

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19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 19:19 A drachma was a silver coin worth about a day’s wages.

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