¹And Saul was consentient to his execution. And it came to pass on that day that there was a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered among the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. ²Then devout men carried Stephen away to burial and made much lamentation over him. ³But Saul ravaged the church, going into one house after another, and dragging men and women out, he delivered them into prison. ⁴Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. ⁵And Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed Christ to them. ⁶And the crowds paid unanimous attention to the words spoken by Philip when they heard them and saw the signs which he performed. ⁷For the unclean spirits of many who were possessed by them came out, shouting with a loud voice, and many who were paralysed or lame were healed. ⁸And there was great joy in that city. ⁹But a certain man by the name of Simon was long established in the city using magic arts, and astounding the people of Samaria, while saying that he was someone great, ¹⁰and they gave heed to him, from small to great, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” ¹¹So they gave heed to him because they had been astounded for a long time by his sorceries. ¹²But when they had believed Philip, who was preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. ¹³And Simon himself also believed, and he was baptized, and he continued resolutely with Philip, and when he saw deeds of power and signs take place, he was astounded. ¹⁴And when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, ¹⁵who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive holy spirit, ¹⁶for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. ¹⁷Then they laid their hands on them, and they received holy spirit. ¹⁸But when Simon observed that the holy spirit was given by the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹and he said, “Give me this authority too, so that whoever I lay my hands on should receive holy spirit.” ²⁰But Peter said to him, “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. ²¹You have no part or inheritance in this matter, for your heart is not upright before God. ²²So repent from this wickedness of yours, and entreat God and see whether then the scheming of your heart will be forgiven you. ²³For I see that you are in bitter gall and bondage to unrighteousness.” ²⁴Then Simon answered and said, “You entreat the Lord for me that nothing of what you have said should come upon me.” ²⁵So then, after they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. ²⁶And the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip and said, “Arise and go southwards on the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. It is desolate.” ²⁷So he arose and went. And he came across an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, an official of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, and he was in charge of all her treasure and had come to worship in Jerusalem. ²⁸And he was returning, sitting on his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹And the spirit said to Philip, “Go and associate yourself with that chariot.” ³⁰And Philip ran up to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and he said, “Do you actually know what you are reading?” ³¹And he said, “Well how can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up in and sit with him. ³²Now the passage of scripture which he was reading was this: ³⁴Then the eunuch answered and said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about? About himself, or about someone else?” ³⁵Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture, he preached Jesus to him. ³⁶And as they went along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there's some water. What is preventing me from being baptized?” ^{37 38}And he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down to the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord took hold of Philip, and the eunuch didn't see him any more, but he went his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰And Philip was found in Azotus, and as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

Reference(s) in Chapter 8: v.32 ↔ Isaiah 53:7 ● v.33 ↔ Isaiah 53:8.