But an angel of the Lord said to Philip (the Evangelist), "Get up and go south down the road which runs from Jerusalem to Gaza [5], out in the desert."

Philip arose and began his journey. At this very moment an Ethiopian eunuch, a minister and in fact the treasurer to Candace (not a name, but the title of the queens of what is now the Sudan), queen of the Ethiopians, was on his way home after coming to Jerusalem to worship (presumably as a Jewish convert. As a eunuch, he would be restricted in his ability to worship, Deuteronomy 23:1). He was sitting in his carriage reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, "Approach this carriage, and keep close to it."

- Philip (Acts 8:30-38 following) explains a prophecy of Isaiah, preaches the Gospel of Jesus, and at the eunuch's request, baptises him. The baptised Ethiopian carries the Gospel on to Africa -

(Verse 30 starts ...) Then as Philip ran forward he heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah, and he said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

And he replied, "How can I unless I have someone to guide me?"

And he invited Philip to get up and sit by his side. The passage of scripture he was reading was this:

'He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation his justice was taken away. And who will declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.' (Isaiah 53:7-8)

The eunuch turned to Philip and said, "Tell me, I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this - is he speaking about himself or about someone else?"

Then Philip began, and using this scripture as a starting point, he told the eunuch the good news about Jesus. As they proceeded along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look, here is some water; is there any reason why I should not be baptised now?"

And he gave orders for the carriage to stop. Then both of them went down to the water and Philip baptised the eunuch. (Verse 39 continues ....) When they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away suddenly and the eunuch saw no more of him, but proceeded on his journey with a heart full of joy. Philip found himself at Azotus [6] and as he passed through the countryside he went on telling the good news in all the cities until he came to Caesarea