Acts 8

1 And that man called Saul agreed with that Jewish council mob. He reckoned it was all right for them to kill Stephen. Then some good men got Stephen’s body and buried it, and they cried a lot for him. But Saul and those other men started making a lot of trouble for the Christians in Jerusalem. They went into the houses of Christians and dragged out the men and women, and locked them up in jail. Saul and his men were trying to finish up the Christian people, that are called the church, so a lot of the Christians ran away from Jerusalem to Judea country and to Samaria country. The only ones that stayed in Jerusalem were the 12 close followers of Jesus.⋮

2 The Christians that ran away from Jerusalem went to a lot of different places, and they told people the good news about Jesus in all those places.⋮

3 One of them was Philip. He went to the town called Samaria and told everyone, “Jesus is the special man that God promised to send.”⋮

4 A lot of people listened to Philip and thought carefully about his message. And God gave him a lot of power. People saw him do powerful things and everyone knew that God was with him.⋮

5 You see, a lot of people had bad spirits in them, and Philip used God’s power to throw those bad spirits out of them. Those bad spirits screamed as they left those people. Philip also used God’s power to make a lot of crippled and weak people better.⋮

6 The people in that town were very happy.⋮

7 A man called Simon lived in that place, Samaria. He used to do magic tricks. He did these things for a long time before Philip went there. Everyone was surprised by the things he did. He used to say, “I am a great man,”⋮

8 and the people looked at him and said, “This man is really great. He has God’s power.” The important people said that, as well as the other people.⋮

9 Simon did this for a long time, and everyone there used to listen to him.⋮

10 But 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.⋮

11 Simon 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.⋮

12 But 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.⋮

13 Simon 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.”⋮

14 But 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.⋮

15 Stop 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.⋮

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

17 Then 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.”⋮

18 After 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.⋮

19 While 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.”⋮

20 So 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.⋮

21 Philip 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.⋮

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

23 So 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?”⋮

24 The 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.⋮

25 He 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.⋮

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

27 And the Ethiopian man said to Philip, “Who was Isaiah talking about? Was he talking about himself or somebody else?”⋮

28 Then Philip told him the meaning of those words in God’s book. And from there he kept on talking and told that Ethiopian man the good news about Jesus.⋮

29 They kept going along the road and came to some water. The Ethiopian man said, “Look. There is some water. Can you baptise me now?”⋮

30 So he told the driver of the wagon to stop. That man and Philip went down into the water, and Philip baptised him.⋮

31 After they came up out of the water the Holy Spirit quickly took Philip away. The Ethiopian man never saw him again, but he was really happy and he kept going on his way home.⋮

32 But Philip was in a different place, called Azotus. Philip told the people there the good news about Jesus. Then he left that town and started walking north. He told the good news about Jesus to the people in all the towns along the way, until he came to the town called Caesarea, and he stayed there.⋮