Acts 8:12-23

¹²But then Philip came and told them the good news about Jesus, and about God’s family, and he told them that God sent Jesus Christ to save people. A lot of men and women listened to Philip and believed in Jesus, and then Philip baptised them.

¹³Simon believed in Jesus too, so Philip baptised him. After that Simon followed Philip everywhere and watched him doing powerful things. Simon was very surprised by those powerful things that Philip did.

¹⁴But at that time the Holy Spirit didn’t go into any of those Samaria people. Philip only baptised the people to show they belonged to Jesus. Then the close followers of Jesus in Jerusalem heard that the people in Samaria believed God’s word, so they sent Peter and John to Samaria. After those 2 men got there, they put their hands on the people that believed in Jesus, and prayed for them. Then the Holy Spirit came into those people.

¹⁸Simon watched Peter and John. He saw them put their hands on people, and he saw the Holy Spirit go into those people. So Simon said to Peter, “Let me have that power too. I will pay you money if you give me that power, so that if I put my hands on people the Holy Spirit will go into them.”

²⁰But Peter said to him, “You think you can buy God’s power with money, but you are wrong. No way. God can see that you are not thinking the right way. You are just thinking about money. If you are like that you can’t be with us. Look out, God can finish you up, and finish up your money too.

²²Stop thinking in that really bad way. Turn around and think God’s way. Pray to him and ask him to not punish you for thinking like that.

²³I can see that you are jealous, and you want to do bad things, and those bad things are controlling you.”