Passage

Acts 8.1-3

Book: Acts · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2. And devout men buried Stephen, and made great lamentation over him. 3. But Saul laid waste the church, entering into every house, and dragging men and women committed them to prison."

"4. They therefore that were scattered abroad, went about preaching the word. 5. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed unto them the Christ." (Acts 8:1-5, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. 2. Devout men buried Stephen, and lamented greatly over him. 3. But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison."

"4. Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word. 5. Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ." (Acts 8:1-5, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison."

"4. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word. 5. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them." (Acts 8:1-5, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And Saul was assenting to his death, and there came in that day a great persecution upon the assembly in Jerusalem, all also were scattered abroad in the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles; 2. and devout men carried away Stephen, and made great lamentation over him; 3. and Saul was making havoc of the assembly, into every house entering, and haling men and women, was giving them up to prison;"

"4. they then indeed, having been scattered, went abroad proclaiming good news, the word. 5. And Philip having gone down to a city of Samaria, was preaching to them the Christ," (Acts 8:1-5, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

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; see Lexicon Roadmap.

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Quoted in

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.