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Acts 8 :: New International Version (NIV)

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Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:1 - And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

The Church Persecuted and Scattered

Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:2 - Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:3 - But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Philip in Samaria

Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:4 - Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:5 - Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:6 - When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:7 - For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:8 - So there was great joy in that city.

Simon the Sorcerer

Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:9 - Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:10 - and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:11 - They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:12 - But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:13 - Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:14 - When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:15 - When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:16 - because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:17 - Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:18 - When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:19 - and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:20 - Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:21 - You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:22 - Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:23 - For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:24 - Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:25 - After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

Philip and the Ethiopian

(cf. Isa 53:7, 8 )
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:26 - Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:27 - So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[fn] eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:28 - and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:29 - The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:30 - Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:31 - “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:32 - This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:33 - In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:34 - The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:35 - Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:36 - As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:38 - And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:39 - When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 8:40 - Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
NIV Footnotes
That is, from the southern Nile region
Isaiah 53:7,8 (see Septuagint)
Some manuscripts include here Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
BLB Footnotes
Some Greek manuscripts exclude this verse. The NIV related footnote for 8:36 states:
Some manuscripts include here Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”  
NIV

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