As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?”
Parallel translations
- WEB As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”
- KJV And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
- BSB As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?”
- NKJV Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
- NASB As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Seeing water along the road, the eunuch asked what prevented his baptism. His immediate response shows faith eager to be obedient.
Overview
Philip's preaching of Jesus evidently included the call to repent, believe, and be baptized. The eunuch's question reveals a heart already persuaded and ready to publicly confess Christ. Baptism marks his entrance into the people of God, fulfilling the gospel's reach to a once-excluded outsider.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Acts 10:47“Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.”
- John 3:5Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.
- Titus 3:5–6not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
- John 3:23John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptized.
- Ezek 36:25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
- 1 Jn 5:6This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 8:36 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.