Acts 8:35-38
8:35 So Philip started speaking, 1 and beginning with this scripture 2 proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.
8:36 Now as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water! What is to stop me 3 from being baptized?”
8:37 [[EMPTY]] 4
8:38 So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, 5 and Philip baptized 6 him.
1 tn Grk “opening his mouth” (a Semitic idiom for beginning to speak in a somewhat formal manner). The participle ἀνοίξας (anoixa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
2 sn Beginning with this scripture. The discussion likely included many of the scriptures Acts has already noted for the reader in earlier speeches. At the least, readers of Acts would know what other scriptures might be meant.
3 tn Or “What prevents me.” The rhetorical question means, “I should get baptized, right?”
4 tc A few later mss (E 36 323 453 945 1739 1891 pc) add, with minor variations, 8:37 “He said to him, ‘If you believe with your whole heart, you may.’ He replied, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’” Verse 37 is lacking in {Ì45,74 א A B C 33 614 vg syp,h co}. It is clearly not a part of the original text of Acts. The variant is significant in showing how some in the early church viewed a confession of faith. The present translation follows NA27 in omitting the verse number, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.
5 tn Grk “and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch.” Since this is somewhat redundant in English, it was simplified to “and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water.”
6 sn Philip baptized. Again, someone beyond the Twelve has ministered an ordinance of faith.