1Saul gave silent assent to his execution. ON that very day a great storm of persecution burst upon the Church in Jerusalem. All except the apostles were scattered over the countryside of Judaea and Samaria.
2While reverent men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him,
3Saul harassed the Church bitterly. He would go from house to house, drag out both men and women and have them committed to prison.
4Those who were dispersed went throughout the country, preaching the good news of the message as they went.
5Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to the people there.
6His words met with a ready and sympathetic response from the large crowds who listened to him and saw the miracles which he performed.
7With loud cries evil spirits came out of those who had been possessed by them; and many paralysed and lame people were cured.
8There was great rejoicing in that city.
9But there was a man named Simon in the city who had been practicing magic for some time and mystifying the people of Samaria. He pretended that he was somebody great
10and everyone from the lowest to the highest was fascinated by him. Indeed, they used to say, "This man must be that great power of God."
11They paid him great attention because he had been astounding them for a long time by his magical practices.
12But when they had come to believe Philip as he proclaimed to them the good news of the kingdom of God and of the name of Jesus Christ, men and women alike were baptized.
13Even Simon himself became a believer and after his baptism attached himself closely to Philip. As he saw the signs and remarkable demonstrations of power which took place, he lived in a state of constant wonder.
14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter and John down to them.
15When these two had arrived they prayed for the Samaritans that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
16for as yet he had not fallen upon any of them. They were living simply as those who had been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
17So then and there they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
18When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the apostles' laying their hands upon people he offered them money
19with the words, "Give me this power too, so that if I were to put my hands on anyone he would receive the Holy Spirit."
20But Peter said to him, "To hell with you and your money! How dare you think you could buy the gift of God for money!
21You can have no share or part in this matter, for your heart is not honest before God.
22All you can do now is to repent of this wickedness of yours and pray earnestly to the Lord that if possible the evil intention of your heart may be forgiven.
23For I can see inside you, and I see a man bitter with jealousy and bound with his own sin!"
24To this Simon answered, "Please pray to the Lord for me that none of these thugs that you have spoken about may come upon me!"
25When Peter and John had given their clear witness and spoken the Word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the good news to many Samaritan villages as they went.
26But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go south down the road which runs from Jerusalem to Gaza, out in the desert."
27Philip arose and began his journey. At the same time an Ethiopian eunuch, a minister and in fact the treasurer to Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, was on his way home after going to Jerusalem to worship.
28He was sitting in his carriage reading the prophet Isaiah.
29The Spirit said to Philip, "Approach this carriage, and keep close to it."
30Then as Philip ran forward he heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah, and he said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
31And he replied, "How can I unless I have someone to guide me?" And he invited Philip to get up and sit by his side.
32The passage of scripture he was reading was this: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth:
33In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: his generation who shall declare? For his life is taken from the earth.
34The eunuch turned to Philip and said, "Tell me, I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying thisis he speaking about himself or about someone else?"
35Then Philip began, and using this scripture as a starting point, he told him the good news about Jesus.
36As they proceeded along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look, here is some water; is there any reason why I should not be baptized?"
38And he gave orders for the carriage to stop. Then both of them went down to the water and Philip baptized the eunuch.
39When they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away suddenly and the eunuch saw no more of him, but proceeded on his journey with a heart full of joy.
40Philip found himself at Azotus and as he passed through the countryside he went on telling the good news in all the cities until he came to Caesarea.
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