^aSaul wholeheartedly approved of Stephen’s death.

And on that day a great and relentless persecution broke out against ^bthe church in Jerusalem; and the believers were all ^cscattered throughout the regions of Judea and ^dSamaria, except for the apostles. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and ¹mourned greatly over him expressing a personal sense of loss. 3 But ^aSaul began ravaging the church and assaulting believers; entering house after house and ^bdragging off men and women, putting them in prison.

4 Now those believers ^awho had been scattered went from place to place ^bpreaching the word the good news of salvation through Christ. 5 ^1aPhilip the evangelist went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) to them. Acts 6:5 6 The crowds gathered and were paying close attention to everything Philip said, as they heard the message and saw the miraculous signs which he was doing validating his message. 7 For ^aunclean spirits (demons) , shouting loudly, were coming out of many who were possessed; and many who had been ^bparalyzed and lame were healed. 8 So there was ^agreat rejoicing in that city.

9 Now there was a man named Simon, who previously practiced ^amagic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, ^bclaiming to be someone great. 10 They all paid a great deal of attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “^aThis man is what is called the Great Power of God!” 11 They were paying attention to him because for a long time he had mystified and dazzled them with his ^amagic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he ^apreached the ¹good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being ^bbaptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon believed Philip’s message of salvation; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he watched the attesting ^asigns and ^bgreat miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.

14 When ^athe apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent ^bPeter and John to them. 15 They came down and prayed for them ^athat they might receive the Holy Spirit; 16 for He had ^anot yet fallen on any of them; they had simply been ^bbaptized in the name of the Lord Jesus as His possession. 17 Then Peter and John ^alaid their hands on them one by one, and they ^breceived the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this authority and power too, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your money be destroyed along with you, because you thought you could ^abuy the free gift of God with money! 21 You have ^ano part or share in this matter, because your heart (motive, purpose) is not ^bright before God. Ps 78:37 22 So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, ^aif possible, this thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are ¹provoked by bitterness and ^abound by sin.” Deut 29:18; Is 58:6 24 But Simon answered, “^aPray to the Lord for me both of you, so that nothing of what you have said will come upon me.”

25 So, when Peter and John had given their ^atestimony and preached ^bthe word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, ^cpreaching the good news about salvation in many ^dSamaritan villages along the way.

26 But ^aan angel of the Lord said to ^bPhilip, “Get up and go south to the road that runs from Jerusalem down to ^cGaza.” (This is a desert road). 27 So he got up and went; and ^athere was an Ethiopian eunuch a man of great authority, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He ^bhad come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was returning, and sitting in his chariot he was reading the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then ^athe Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” 30 Philip ran up and heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah, and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “Well, how could I understand unless someone guides me correctly?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now this was the passage of Scripture which he was reading:“^aLIKE A SHEEP HE WAS LED TO THE SLAUGHTER;AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT,SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.

34 The eunuch replied to Philip, “Please tell me, about whom does the prophet say this? About himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip ^aspoke and ^bbeginning with this Scripture he ^cpreached Jesus to him explaining that He is the promised Messiah and the source of salvation. 36 As they continued along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch exclaimed, “Look! Water! ^aWhat forbids me from being baptized?” 37 [¹Philip said to him, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] 38 And he ordered that the chariot be stopped; and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, ^athe Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip and carried him away to a different place; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at ^1aAzotus, and as he passed through he ^bpreached the good news of salvation to all the cities, until he came to ^2cCaesarea Maritima.