Acts 8:14-17

8:14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem ¹  heard that Samaria had accepted the word ²  of God, they sent ³  Peter and John to them. 8:15 These two ⁴  went down and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. 8:16 (For the Spirit ⁵  had not yet come upon ⁶  any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) ⁷  8:17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans, ⁸  and they received the Holy Spirit. ⁹ 

[8:14]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:14]  ² tn Or “message.”

[8:14]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Grk “For he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:16]  ⁶ tn Or “fallen on.”

[8:16]  ⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

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

[8:17]  ⁹ 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.