Acts 8:1-17

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ²  persecution began ³  against the church in Jerusalem, ⁴  and all ⁵  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ⁶  of Judea and Samaria. 8:2 Some ⁷  devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation ⁸  over him. ⁹  8:3 But Saul was trying to destroy ¹⁰  the church; entering one house after another, he dragged off ¹¹  both men and women and put them in prison. ¹² 

Philip Preaches in Samaria

8:4 Now those who had been forced to scatter went around proclaiming the good news of the word. 8:5 Philip went down to the main city of Samaria ¹³  and began proclaiming ¹⁴  the Christ ¹⁵  to them. 8:6 The crowds were paying attention with one mind to what Philip said, ¹⁶  as they heard and saw the miraculous signs ¹⁷  he was performing. 8:7 For unclean spirits, ¹⁸  crying with loud shrieks, were coming out of many who were possessed, ¹⁹  and many paralyzed and lame people were healed. 8:8 So there was ²⁰  great joy ²¹  in that city.

8:9 Now in that city was a man named Simon, who had been practicing magic ²²  and amazing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great. 8:10 All the people, ²³  from the least to the greatest, paid close attention to him, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called ‘Great.’” ²⁴  8:11 And they paid close attention to him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. 8:12 But when they believed Philip as he was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God ²⁵  and the name of Jesus Christ, ²⁶  they began to be baptized, ²⁷  both men and women. 8:13 Even Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized, he stayed close to ²⁸  Philip constantly, and when he saw the signs and great miracles that were occurring, he was amazed. ²⁹ 

8:14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem ³⁰  heard that Samaria had accepted the word ³¹  of God, they sent ³²  Peter and John to them. 8:15 These two ³³  went down and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. 8:16 (For the Spirit ³⁴  had not yet come upon ³⁵  any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) ³⁶  8:17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans, ³⁷  and they received the Holy Spirit. ³⁸ 

[8:1]  ¹ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ² tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ³ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ⁵ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ⁶ tn Or “countryside.”

[8:2]  ⁷ tn “Some” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[8:2]  ⁸ sn Made loud lamentation. For someone who was stoned to death, lamentation was normally not allowed (m. Sanhedrin 6:6). The remark points to an unjust death.

[8:2]  ⁹ tn Or “mourned greatly for him.”

[8:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “began to harm [the church] severely.” If the nuance of this verb is “destroy,” then the imperfect verb ἐλυμαίνετο (elumaineto) is best translated as a conative imperfect as in the translation above. If instead the verb is taken to mean “injure severely” (as L&N 20.24), it should be translated in context as an ingressive imperfect (“began to harm the church severely”). Either option does not significantly alter the overall meaning, since it is clear from the stated actions of Saul in the second half of the verse that he intended to destroy or ravage the church.

[8:3]  ¹¹ tn The participle σύρων (surwn) has been translated as an finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[8:3]  ¹² tn BDAG 762 s.v. παραδίδωμι 1.b has “εἰς φυλακήν put in prison Ac 8:3.”

[8:5]  ¹³ tn The word “main” is supplied in the translation to clarify that “Samaria” is not the name of the city (at least in NT times). See both BDAG 912 s.v. Σαμάρεια, and L&N 93.568.

[8:5]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect ἐκήρυσσεν (ekhrussen) has been translated as an ingressive, since this is probably the first time such preaching took place.

[8:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[8:6]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “to what was being said by Philip,” a passive construction that has been changed to active voice in the translation.

[8:6]  ¹⁷ tn Here the following context indicates the miraculous nature of the signs mentioned. This term appears 13 times in Acts, but only twice more after Acts 8:13 (i.e., 14:3; 15:12).

[8:7]  ¹⁸ sn The expression unclean spirits refers to evil supernatural spirits which were ceremonially unclean, and which caused the persons possessed by them to be ceremonially unclean.

[8:7]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “For [in the case of] many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out, crying in a loud voice.”

[8:8]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and there came about,” but this is somewhat awkward in English.

[8:8]  ²¹ sn Great joy. The reason for eschatological joy was that such events pointed to God’s decisive deliverance (Luke 7:22-23). Note how the acts of healing extend beyond the Twelve here.

[8:9]  ²² tn On the idiom προϋπῆρχεν μαγεύων (prouphrcen mageuwn) meaning “had been practicing magic” see BDAG 889 s.v. προϋπάρχω.

[8:10]  ²³ tn Grk “all of them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:10]  ²⁴ tn Or “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.” The translation “what is called the Great Power of God” is given by BDAG 263 s.v. δύναμις 5, but the repetition of the article before καλουμένη μεγάλη (kaloumenh megalh) suggests the translation “the power of God that is called ‘Great.’”

[8:12]  ²⁵ sn The kingdom of God is also what Jesus preached: Acts 1:3. The term reappears in 14:22; 19:8; 28:23, 31.

[8:12]  ²⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[8:12]  ²⁷ tn The imperfect verb ἐβαπτίζοντο (ebaptizonto) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[8:13]  ²⁸ tn Or “he kept close company with.”

[8:13]  ²⁹ sn He was amazed. Now Simon, the one who amazed others, is himself amazed, showing the superiority of Philip’s connection to God. Christ is better than anything the culture has to offer.

[8:14]  ³⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:14]  ³¹ tn Or “message.”

[8:14]  ³² sn They sent. The Jerusalem church with the apostles was overseeing the expansion of the church, as the distribution of the Spirit indicates in vv. 15-17.

[8:15]  ³³ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the phrase “these two” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

[8:16]  ³⁴ tn Grk “For he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:16]  ³⁵ tn Or “fallen on.”

[8:16]  ³⁶ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[8:17]  ³⁷ tn Grk “on them”; the referent (the Samaritans) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:17]  ³⁸ sn They received the Holy Spirit. It is likely this special distribution of the Spirit took place because a key ethnic boundary was being crossed. Here are some of “those far off” of Acts 2:38-40.