Book of Common Prayer

¹⁴ Then the apostles at Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria believed God's word. So they sent Peter and John to them.

¹⁵ When they came to them, they prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit.

¹⁶ Until that time, none of the people there had received the Holy Spirit. They had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁷ Then the apostles put their hands on the people and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ Simon saw that the people received the Holy Spirit when the apostles put their hands on them. Then he brought money to the apostles.

¹⁹ He said, `Give me this power, too, so that anyone on whom I put my hands will receive the Holy Spirit.'

²⁰ Peter said, `May you and your money be destroyed! You thought that you could buy the gift of God with money.

²¹ You have no part in this matter. You cannot have any of this because God sees that your heart is not right.

²² Stop your wrong ways. Ask the Lord. Perhaps God will forgive you for the wrong things you wanted to do.

²³ I see that you are very bitter. Your wrong ways control you all together.'

²⁴ Simon said, `Ask the Lord for me, so that none of the things you have talked about will happen to me.'

²⁵ The apostles told the people the word of the Lord. Then they went back to Jerusalem. On the way they told the good news in many villages in Samaria.

23 Then all the people got up and took Jesus to Pilate.

² They began to make a complaint against him. They said, `This man is leading our people to do wrong. He says we should not pay taxes to Caesar. He says that he is Christ, a King.'

³ Then Pilate asked Jesus, `Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, `Yes, I am.'

⁴ Pilate said to the chief priests and to the people, `I find nothing wrong in this man.'

⁵ But they said all the more, `He troubles the people by his teaching. He has been teaching people in all the country of Judea. He began in Galilee and has come as far as this city.'

⁶ When Pilate heard this, he asked, `Is this man from Galilee?'

⁷ When he knew that he came from Herod's country, he sent him to Herod. Herod was in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸ He was glad to see Jesus. He had heard about him. And he had wanted to see him for a long time. He was hoping that he would see Jesus do a big work.

⁹ He asked Jesus many questions. But Jesus did not answer him.

¹⁰ The chief priests and the scribes stood near. They brought strong complaints against him.

¹¹ Then Herod and his soldiers laughed at Jesus and made fun of him. He dressed him up in very fine clothes and sent him back to Pilate.

¹² Herod and Pilate became friends that day. Before that, they had hated each other.