Acts 8:36-40

8:36 Now as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water! What is to stop me ¹  from being baptized?” 8:37 [[EMPTY]] ²  8:38 So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, ³  and Philip baptized ⁴  him. 8:39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any more, but ⁵  went on his way rejoicing. ⁶  8:40 Philip, however, found himself ⁷  at Azotus, ⁸  and as he passed through the area, ⁹  he proclaimed the good news ¹⁰  to all the towns ¹¹  until he came to Caesarea. ¹² 

¹ tn Or “What prevents me.” The rhetorical question means, “I should get baptized, right?”

² tc A few later mss (E 36 323 453 945 1739 1891 pc) add, with minor variations, 8:37 “He said to him, ‘If you believe with your whole heart, you may.’ He replied, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’” Verse 37 is lacking in {Ì^45,74 א A B C 33 614 vg sy^p,h co}. It is clearly not a part of the original text of Acts. The variant is significant in showing how some in the early church viewed a confession of faith. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.

³ tn Grk “and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch.” Since this is somewhat redundant in English, it was simplified to “and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water.”

⁴ sn Philip baptized. Again, someone beyond the Twelve has ministered an ordinance of faith.

⁵ tn BDAG 189 s.v. γάρ 2 indicates that under certain circumstances γάρ (gar) has the same meaning as δέ (de).

⁶ sn Note that the response to the gospel is rejoicing (joy, cf. Acts 11:23; 13:48).

⁷ tn Or “appeared.”

⁸ sn Azotus was a city on the coast of southern Palestine, known as Ashdod in OT times.

⁹ tn The words “the area” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

¹⁰ tn Or “he preached the gospel.”

¹¹ tn Or “cities.”

¹² sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.