Passage

Acts 8.29

Book: Acts · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"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; 28. 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."

"30. And Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31. And he said, How can I, except some one shall guide me? And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him." (Acts 8:27-31, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"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. 28. 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.”"

"30. Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31. He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him." (Acts 8:27-31, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"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, 28. 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."

"30. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31. And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him." (Acts 8:27-31, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"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; 28. 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;'"

"30. and Philip having run near, heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, 'Dost thou then know what thou dost read?' 31. and he said, 'Why, how am I able, if some one may not guide me?' he called Philip also, having come up, to sit with him." (Acts 8:27-31, 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.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Pneumatology

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.