Acts 8:18-33

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.”

²⁴Then Simon said to Peter, “Pray to God for me so that he will not punish me, and those things you said will not happen to me.”

²⁵After that Peter and John told the people there more of the message about Jesus. Then they left that town to go back to Jerusalem. They went through a lot of little towns along that road in Samaria country. They told the good news about Jesus to the people in all those towns.

²⁶While Philip was there at Samaria one of God’s angel messengers came to him and said, “Get ready and go south along the desert road, you know, the road that goes from Jerusalem to the town called Gaza.”

²⁷So Philip got ready and went to that road, and he saw a man from Ethiopia country sitting in a wagon, going along that road. That man worked for the queen of Ethiopia. Her name was Candace. That man was one of her important workers. He looked after all her money. But he had a break from that work and went to Jerusalem to show respect to God, and then he started to go back home along that road.

²⁸Philip saw him sitting in his wagon and he was reading God’s book. He was reading the part that God’s man, called Isaiah, wrote a long time ago.

²⁹Then the Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Catch up with that wagon and walk along beside it.”

³⁰So Philip ran up close to the wagon and he heard that man reading from Isaiah’s book. Philip asked him, “Can you understand that book you are reading?”

³¹The Ethiopian man said, “No, I don’t understand it. I need somebody to help me.” Then he asked Philip to climb up into the wagon and sit beside him.

³²He was reading this part of God’s book, “Some people led him away to kill him, just like men lead a sheep away to kill it, but he was quiet and didn’t say anything. You know the way a sheep is quiet and doesn’t make a noise while men cut off all its wool, well, he was quiet, just like that.

³³Men shamed him, and they didn’t give him a proper trial in court. Then they killed him, so he can’t have any kids.”