1. Saul agreed that the killing of Stephen was a good thing.
2-3. Some religious men buried Stephen. They cried very loudly for him. On that day people began trying to hurt the church in Jerusalem and make it suffer. Saul was also trying to destroy the church. He went from house to house. He dragged out men and women and put them in jail. All the believers, except the apostles, went to different places in Judea and Samaria.
4. And everywhere the believers were scattered, they told people the Good News.
5. Philip went to the city of Samaria and preached about the Christ.
6. The people there heard Philip and saw the miracles he was doing. They all listened carefully to the things he said.
7. Many of these people had evil spirits in them. But Philip made the evil spirits leave them. The spirits made a loud noise when they came out. There were also many weak and crippled people there. Philip healed them, too.
8. So the people in that city were very happy.
9. But there was a man named Simon in that city. Before Philip came there, Simon had practiced magic. He amazed all the people of Samaria with his magic. He bragged and called himself a great man.
10. All the people—the least important and the most important—paid attention to what Simon said. They said, “This man has the power of God, called ‘the Great Power’!”
11. Simon had amazed them with his magic tricks so long that the people became his followers.
12. But Philip told them the Good News about the kingdom of God and the power of Jesus Christ. Men and women believed Philip and were baptized.
13. Simon himself believed and was baptized. He stayed very close to Philip. When he saw the miracles and the very powerful things that Philip did, Simon was amazed.
14. The apostles were still in Jerusalem. They heard that the people of Samaria had accepted the word of God. So they sent Peter and John to them.
15. When Peter and John arrived, they prayed that the Samaritan believers might receive the Holy Spirit.