Act 8 | EE | STEP | Saul was standing there while the Jewish leaders killed Stephen. He agreed with what they did. On the same day that Stephen died, the group of believers who lived in Jerusalem began to have great trouble. People did bad things to them. All the believers left Jerusalem and went to other places in Judea and Samaria. Only Jesus’ 12 apostles stayed in Jerusalem.

Acts 8

1 Saul was standing there while the Jewish leaders killed Stephen. He agreed with what they did.

Saul puts many believers in prison

On the same day that Stephen died, the group of believers who lived in Jerusalem began to have great trouble. People did bad things to them. All the believers left Jerusalem and went to other places in Judea and Samaria. Only Jesus’ 12 apostles stayed in Jerusalem. ^{▼▼8:1 Some believers may have remained for a while. Those who were hurting them continued to do so. That is what we think.}

2 Some good men who loved God buried Stephen’s dead body. They were very sad and they cried with loud voices. 3 But Saul brought great troubles to the believers. He wanted to destroy their whole group. So he went to all their houses. He took hold of the believers and he put them into prison. He did that to both men and women.

People in Samaria hear God’s good news

4 The believers who had left Jerusalem went to many different towns. In each place, they told the people the message about Jesus. 5 One of them who was called Philip went to a city in Samaria. There he told the people the message about Jesus Christ, God’s Messiah.

6 Crowds of people came together to hear Philip speak. They saw him do many miracles which showed that God was with him. So, they listened carefully to his message. 7 Many people there had bad spirits, which were living in them. Philip sent the bad spirits out of those people. As the spirits came out, they shouted loudly. Some other people had weak arms or legs, and some people could not walk well. Philip caused many of them to become well again. 8 As a result, the people in that city were very happy. ^{▼▼8:8 The Holy Spirit lived inside Philip. And he helped Philip to speak in a powerful way. Because of this he could do these special things for the people. People who lived in Samaria were called Samaritans.}

9 A man called Simon lived in that city. For a long time, he had used magic to do great things. All the people who lived in Samaria were very surprised at what he did. Simon told everyone that he was a very important person. 10 All the people in the city watched Simon carefully. This included the people who were important and all the other people too. Everyone said, ‘This man really has great power that comes from God.’ 11 Simon had used his magic for a long time and he had surprised them all very much. Because of that, they listened to him carefully. 12 But then Philip told them the good news about the kingdom of God. He told them the message about God’s Messiah, Jesus. Many men and women believed Philip’s message, so he baptised them. 13 Simon also believed and Philip baptised him too. After this, Simon stayed close to Philip. He was very surprised at the powerful miracles which Philip did.

14 The apostles who were in Jerusalem heard about all this. They heard that many people in Samaria had believed God’s word. So they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When these two apostles arrived in Samaria, they prayed for the people who now believed in Jesus. They asked God to give the new believers the Holy Spirit. 16 The Holy Spirit had not yet come to any of these people. When Philip had baptised them, he had just used the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 So Peter and John put their hands on the head of each believer, and they each received the Holy Spirit.

18 Simon saw that that God gave the Holy Spirit to people when the apostles Peter and John put their hands on them. So he said to Peter and John, ‘Here is some money for you. 19 Please give me this same power. I want to put my hands on other people, so that they will receive the Holy Spirit.’

20 Peter answered Simon, ‘I pray that God will destroy you and your money! You think that you can buy this gift with your money! It is very wrong for you to think that. It is God who gives that gift. 21 You cannot do the work which we are doing. God knows that you are not thinking the right things. 22 You must turn away from those very bad thoughts. Turn to the Lord and pray that he will forgive you. Then perhaps he will forgive you for these bad thoughts. 23 You are very upset because you do not have what you want. I can see that sin rules your life.’

24 Then Simon said to Peter and John, ‘Please, pray to the Lord God for me. Then none of these bad things that you have spoken about will happen to me.’

25 Peter and John told the people about the Lord Jesus and they spoke God’s message to them. Then they returned to Jerusalem. On their way, they went through many villages in Samaria and they told the people the good news about Jesus.

Philip meets a man from Ethiopia

26 Then God sent an angel to speak to Philip. He said, ‘Philip, go south to the road between Jerusalem and Gaza which goes through the wilderness.’ ^{▼▼8:26 It was about 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Jerusalem to the town called Gaza.}

27 So Philip prepared himself and he went. While he was going along this road, he met an important officer from Ethiopia. This man had authority over the queen of Ethiopia’s money. She was called Candace. The officer was travelling home from Jerusalem. He had been there to worship God. ^{▼▼8:27 Ethiopia is a country in Africa. People who live there are called Ethiopians. Candace was a special name for their queen. We think that the man from Ethiopia was not a Jew. But now he obeyed the God of the Jews. The Ethiopian man was riding in a cart that horses pulled. The cart would move about as fast as a man can walk.}

28 Now the man was travelling home again in his cart. He was reading something from the book that God’s prophet Isaiah wrote. 29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go to that cart and walk beside it.’

30 So Philip ran to the cart as it went along. The officer was reading aloud from the prophet Isaiah’s book and Philip heard him. So Philip asked the man, ‘Do you understand the things that you are reading about?’

31 The man answered, ‘I cannot understand it. I need someone to explain it to me.’ Then he said to Philip, ‘Come up here and sit with me in the cart.’

32 The officer was reading these words from the book of Isaiah:

‘People led him away like a sheep that they are going to kill.
He did not make a noise.
He was like a young sheep when they are going to cut its hair.
He did not say anything against them.

33 People did not respect him at all.

They just said he was guilty.
Nobody can say anything about his children, because he did not have any.
They just took away his life on earth.’ ^{▼▼8:33 We can read this in Isaiah 53:7-8. Isaiah wrote this about Jesus.}

34 The officer said to Philip, ‘Please tell me who the prophet Isaiah wrote about. Was he writing about himself or about another person?’ 35 Then Philip explained to the man the words that Isaiah had written. Then he went on to tell him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they were travelling along the road, they came to a place with some water. The man said to Philip, ‘Look! There is some water here. Please will you baptise me? Is there anything to stop you?’

[ 37 Philip said to him, ‘I can baptise you if you really believe in Jesus.’ The man said to Philip, ‘I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’] ^{▼▼8:37 Most Bibles do not have 8:37. Perhaps Luke wrote it, but then people lost it. Perhaps Luke did not write it. Then somebody else wrote it after Luke had finished writing the book of Acts.}

38 The officer said to the man who was driving the cart, ‘Stop the cart!’ Then he went down with Philip into the water, and Philip baptised him. 39 They both came up out of the water again. Immediately the Lord‘s Holy Spirit took Philip away from that place. The officer did not see Philip again. He continued his journey and he was very happy. ^{▼▼8:39 Philip baptised the man from Ethiopia because the man believed the good news about Jesus.}

40 Philip saw that he was now in Azotus. From there, he visited many towns and he told people the good news about Jesus. He did this as he went all the way to Caesarea. ^{▼▼8:40 Azotus was a town 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Gaza. Caesarea was an important city in Israel. The Roman ruler sometimes lived there. Caesarea was at the coast and it was an important port. It was 70 kilometres (about 45 miles) from Jerusalem. We think that Philip lived in Caesarea for many years. Philip was still living in Caesarea when Luke wrote about him again in Acts 21:8.}