Acts 8:15-17

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

1 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.

2 tn Grk “For he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

3 tn Or “fallen on.”

4 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

5 tn Grk “on them”; the referent (the Samaritans) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

6 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.