ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Acts 8.27
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Passage

Acts 8.27

Book: Acts · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

25. They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. 26. But an angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza: the same is desert.

27. And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship;

  1. and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29. And the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. (Acts 8:25-29, ASV)
WEB

25. They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans. 26. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert.”

27. He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship.

  1. He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29. The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.” (Acts 8:25-29, WEB)
KJV

25. And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. 26. And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

27. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

  1. Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. 29. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. (Acts 8:25-29, KJV)
YLT

25. They indeed, therefore, having testified fully, and spoken the word of the Lord, did turn back to Jerusalem; in many villages also of the Samaritans they did proclaim good news. 26. And a messenger of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, 'Arise, and go on toward the south, on the way that is going down from Jerusalem to Gaza,', this is desert.

27. And having arisen, he went on, and lo, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch, a man of rank, of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to worship to Jerusalem;

  1. he was also returning, and is sitting on his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29. And the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go near, and be joined to this chariot;' (Acts 8:25-29, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Luke, narrating
  • Audience: Theophilus (1:1) and the wider church
  • Location: the desert road "that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza" (8:26)
  • Time period: the events fall in the early 30s AD, soon after the death of Stephen and the scattering of the Jerusalem church (8:1-4); Acts itself is dated by scholars anywhere from the early 60s to the 80s

Theological reading

"And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship." Philip has been preaching in Samaria (8:5-25). An angel sends him to a desert road (8:26), and he goes at once.

Who the man was. "Ethiopia" (Strong's G128) in Greek usage meant the lands south of Egypt, here the kingdom of Kush on the upper Nile, whose royal center was then Meroe, in what is now Sudan. It is not the later kingdom of Aksum in the Ethiopian highlands. "Candace" (G2582) is not a personal name but a title, kandake, borne by queens of Meroe. This man was her chief treasurer, a senior African official.

A eunuch who came to worship. He had made the long journey "to Jerusalem to worship" (G4352) and was reading Isaiah on the way home (8:28). Luke does not say whether he was a full convert to Judaism or a Gentile who worshipped Israel's God. If "eunuch" (G2135) is meant literally, the law barred him from "the assembly of Jehovah" (Deuteronomy 23:1). Yet the scroll in his hands holds the promise: "neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree," for God will give such men "a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters" (Isaiah 56:3, 5). He was reading Isaiah 53:7-8 (Acts 8:32-33) when Philip met him, and Philip "beginning from this Scripture, preached unto him Jesus" (8:35).

The gospel reaches Africa. Jesus had sent his followers "unto the uttermost part of the earth" (1:8). Within a few years of the resurrection the message travels south, beyond the Roman world, with an African official who "went on his way rejoicing" (8:39). The Ethiopian church has long counted him part of its heritage, and the kingdom of Aksum itself became officially Christian in the fourth century under King Ezana. Christianity did not reach Africa late, from Europe. It was in Africa from the first generation. See Kemetic Religion vs the Christian God, Africans in Scripture Argument and African Christianity Pre-Colonial.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.