Acts 8:26-40

Acts 8

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is an isolated area.) ²⁷ So he got up and went. And there was a man, an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship. ²⁸ He was on his way home, sitting in his chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹ The Spirit told Philip, “Go over there and stay close to that chariot.” ³⁰ Philip ran up to it and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet.

Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹ The man replied, “How can I unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³² Now the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading was this:

³⁴ The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet talking about—himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began to speak. Starting with that very passage of Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ As they were traveling along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What is there to prevent me from being baptized?” ^[3]

³⁸ He ordered the chariot to stop. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they stepped up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. The eunuch did not see him anymore, but went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰ Philip, however, found himself at Azotus. And as he went from place to place, he preached the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.