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¹ Now Saul heartily approved of putting him to death. That day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all of them, except for the apostles, were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.[xr] ² Devout men buried Stephen as they mourned loudly for him.[xr] ³ But Saul kept trying to destroy the church. Going into one house after another, he began dragging off men and women and throwing them in prison.[xr]

⁴ Now those who were scattered went from place to place preaching the word.[xr] ⁵ Philip went down to the[fn] city of Samaria and began to preach the Christ[fn] to the people.[fn][xr] ⁶ The crowds, hearing his message[fn] and seeing the signs that he was doing, paid close attention to what was said by Philip. ⁷ Unclean spirits screamed with a loud voice as they came out of the many people they had possessed, and many paralyzed and lame people were healed.[xr] ⁸ As a result, there was great rejoicing in that city. ⁹ Now in that city there was a man named Simon. He was practicing occult arts and thrilling the people of Samaria, claiming to be a great man.[xr] ¹⁰ Everyone from the least to the greatest paid close attention to him, saying, "This man is the power of God, which is called great!" ¹¹ They paid careful attention to him because he had thrilled them for a long time with his occultic performances. ¹² But when Philip proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and of the name of Jesus Christ, men and women believed and were baptized.[xr] ¹³ Even Simon believed, and after he was baptized he became devoted to Philip. He was amazed to see the signs and great miracles that were happening.

¹⁴ Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. ¹⁵ They went down and prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit.[xr] ¹⁶ Before this he had not come on any of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.[xr] ¹⁷ Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.[xr] ¹⁸ Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money ¹⁹ and said, "Give me this power too, so that when I lay my hands on someone he will receive the Holy Spirit." ²⁰ But Peter said to him, "May your money perish with you because you thought you could obtain God's free gift with money![xr] ²¹ You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart isn't right before God. ²² So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, this thought of your heart may be forgiven you.[xr] ²³ For I see that you're turning into bitter poison and that you're being chained by wickedness!"[xr] ²⁴ Simon answered, "Both of you pray[fn] to the Lord for me that none of the things you have said will happen to me."[xr] ²⁵ After they had given their testimony and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, continuing to proclaim the good news in many Samaritan villages.

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go south by the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert road." ²⁷ So he got up and went. Now an Ethiopian eunuch was there. He was a member of the court of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, and was in charge of all her treasures. He had come to Jerusalem to worship[xr] ²⁸ and was returning home. He was seated in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ The Spirit said to Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay close to it." ³⁰ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah out loud.He asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?" ³¹ He replied, "How can I unless someone guides me?" So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him. ³² This was the passage of Scripture he was reading:[xr] "Like a sheep he was led away to be slaughtered, and like a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. ³³ In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth."[fn] ³⁴ The eunuch said to Philip, "I ask you, about whom is the prophet speaking - about himself or about someone else?" ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth and, starting from this Scripture, told him the good news about Jesus.[xr] ³⁶ As they were going along the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, "Look, there's some water. What keeps me from being baptized?"[fn] ³⁷ Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." He replied, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."[xr] ³⁸ So he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and Philip[fn] baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch went on his way rejoicing and did not see Philip[fn] again.[xr] ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus. As he was passing through the region,[fn] he kept proclaiming the good news in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.