Acts 8:17-33

¹⁷Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸When Simon saw that it was through the placing of the apostles' hands on them that the Spirit was given, he brought them a sum of money and said,

¹⁹“Give me also this power of yours, so that, if I place my hands on anyone, he may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰“A curse on you and on your money,” Peter exclaimed, “for thinking that God's free gift can be bought with gold!

²¹You have no share or part in our message, for your heart is not right with God.

²²Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, that, if possible, you may be forgiven for such a thought;

²³for I see that you have fallen into the bitterness of envy and the fetters of sin.”

²⁴“Pray to the Lord for me, all of you,” Simon answered, “so that none of the things you have spoken of may happen to me.”

²⁵Peter and John, having borne their testimony and delivered the Lord's message, returned to Jerusalem, telling the good news, as they went, in many Samaritan villages.

²⁶Meanwhile an angel of the Lord had said to Philip, “Set out on a journey southwards, along the road that runs down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (It is now deserted).

²⁷So Philip set out on a journey; and on his way he came on an official of high rank, in the service of Candace, Queen of the Abyssinians. He was her treasurer, and had been to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸and was now on his way home, sitting in his carriage and reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹The Spirit said to Philip, “Go up to the carriage over there and keep close to it.”

³⁰So Philip ran up, and he heard the Abyssinian reading the prophet Isaiah. “Do you understand what you are reading?” he asked.

³¹“How can I,” the other answered, “unless someone will explain it to me?” and he invited Philip to get up and sit by his side.

³²The passage of scripture which he was reading was this — ‘Like a sheep, he was led away to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in the hands of its shearer, so he refrains from opening his lips.

³³He was humiliated and justice was denied him. Who will tell the story of his generation? For his life is cut off from earth.’