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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Acts 8 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/acts/8.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/acts/8-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Acts 8</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../acts/7.htm" title="Acts 7">◄</a> Acts 8 <a href="../acts/9.htm" title="Acts 9">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/acts/8.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.</p><p class="hdg">Persecution Scatters the Believers</p><p class="reg">A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>(Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.</p><p class="hdg">Philip Preaches in Samaria</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Many evil<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>So there was great joy in that city.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Everyone, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as “the Great One—the Power of God.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>They listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>“Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.</p><p class="hdg">Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.</p><p class="line2">And as a lamb is silent before the shearers,</p><p class="line2">he did not open his mouth.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>He was humiliated and received no justice.</p><p class="line2">Who can speak of his descendants?</p><p class="line2">For his life was taken from the earth.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a></p><p class="b"/><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-36.htm"><b>36</b></a></span>As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-38.htm"><b>38</b></a></span>He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-39.htm"><b>39</b></a></span>When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/8-40.htm"><b>40</b></a></span>Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">8:7 </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">unclean.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">8:26 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">Go at noon.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">8:32-33 </span><span class="ft">Isa 53:7-8 (Greek version).</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">8:36 </span><span class="ft">Some manuscripts add verse 37, </span><span class="it">“You can,” Philip answered, “if you believe with all your heart.” And the eunuch replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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