Discovery BoxActs 8:15-19 
Context8:15 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
8:18 Now Simon, when he saw that the Spirit 7 was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, offered them money, 8:19 saying, “Give me this power 8 too, so that everyone I place my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”
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.
7 tc Most witnesses (Ì45,74 A* C D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï latt sy bo) here read “the Holy Spirit” (τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, to pneuma to {agion), while a few key
8 tn Or “ability”; Grk “authority.”
