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14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word[a] of God, they sent[b] Peter and John to them. 15 These two[c] went down and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. 16 (For the Spirit[d] had not yet come upon[e] any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)[f] 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans,[g] and they received the Holy Spirit.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 8:14 tn Or “message.”
  2. Acts 8:14 sn They sent. The Jerusalem church with the apostles was overseeing the expansion of the church, as the distribution of the Spirit indicates in vv. 15-17.
  3. Acts 8:15 tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the phrase “these two” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.
  4. Acts 8:16 tn Grk “For he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  5. Acts 8:16 tn Or “fallen on.”
  6. Acts 8:16 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
  7. Acts 8:17 tn Grk “on them”; the referent (the Samaritans) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  8. Acts 8:17 sn They received the Holy Spirit. It is likely this special distribution of the Spirit took place because a key ethnic boundary was being crossed. Here are some of “those far off” of Acts 2:38-40.

14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; 16 for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

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