¹⁰ and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel ^(A)shall lay their hands on the Levites.

¹⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, “^[a]Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man ^(A)in whom is the Spirit, and ^(B)lay your hand on him;

⁹ Now Joshua the son of Nun was ^(A)filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²³ and *implored Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and ^(A)lay Your hands on her, so that she will ^[a]get well and live.”

¹⁷ Then they ^(A)began laying their hands on them, and they were ^(B)receiving the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹ saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone 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 ^(C)obtain the gift of God with money! ²¹ You have ^(D)no part or portion in this ^[a]matter, for your heart is not ^(E)right before God. ²² Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, ^(F)if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in ^(G)the ^[b]bondage of iniquity.” ²⁴ But Simon answered and said, “^(H)Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

An Ethiopian Receives Christ

²⁵ So, when they had solemnly ^(I)testified and spoken ^(J)the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were ^(K)preaching the gospel to many villages of the ^(L)Samaritans.

²⁶ But ^(M)an angel of the Lord spoke to ^(N)Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to ^(O)Gaza.” (^[c]This is a desert road.) ²⁷ So he got up and went; and ^(P)there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he ^(Q)had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and he was returning and sitting in his ^[d]chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then ^(R)the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this ^[e]chariot.” ³⁰ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

³⁴ The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip ^(U)opened his mouth, and ^(V)beginning from this Scripture he ^(W)preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, “Look! Water! ^(X)What prevents me from being baptized?” ³⁷ [^[h]And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] ³⁸ And he ordered the ^[i]chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, ^(Y)the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, ^[j]but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip ^[k]found himself at ^[l](Z)Azotus, and as he passed through he ^(AA)kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to ^(AB)Caesarea.