24. Simon answered, “Both of you pray to the Lord for me, so that what you have said will not happen to me.”
25. Then the two apostles told the people what they had seen Jesus do. They told them the message of the Lord. Then they went back to Jerusalem. On the way, they went through many Samaritan towns and told people the Good News.
26. An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip. The angel said, “Get ready and go south on the road that leads down to Gaza from Jerusalem—the road that goes through the desert.”
27. So Philip got ready and went. On the road he saw a man from Ethiopia. He was a eunuch and an important official in the service of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians. He was responsible for taking care of all her money. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship.
28. Now he was on his way home. He was sitting in his chariot reading from the book of Isaiah the prophet.
29. The Spirit said to Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
30. So he went toward the chariot, and he heard the man reading from Isaiah the prophet. Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31. The man answered, “How can I understand? I need someone to explain it to me.” Then he invited Philip to climb in and sit with him.
32. The part of the Scriptures that he was reading was this: “He was like a sheep being led to the butcher. He was like a lamb that makes no sound as its wool is being cut off. He said nothing.
33. He was shamed, and all his rights were taken away. His life on earth has ended. So there will be no story about his descendants.” Isaiah 53:7-8
34. The official said to Philip, “Please, tell me, who is the prophet talking about? Is he talking about himself or about someone else?”
35. Philip began to speak. He started with this same Scripture and told the man the Good News about Jesus.
36. While they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The official said, “Look, here is water! What is stopping me from being baptized?”
38. Then the official ordered the chariot to stop. Both Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
39. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away; the official never saw him again. The official continued on his way home. He was very happy.
40. But Philip appeared in a city called Azotus. He was going to the city of Caesarea. He told people the Good News in all the towns on the way from Azotus to Caesarea.