Acts 8:24
New International Version
Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

New Living Translation
“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”

English Standard Version
And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

Berean Standard Bible
Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

Berean Literal Bible
And Simon answering said, "You pray earnestly to the Lord on behalf of me, so that nothing of which you have spoken may come upon me."

King James Bible
Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

New King James Version
Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”

New American Standard Bible
But Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

NASB 1995
But Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

NASB 1977
But Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

Legacy Standard Bible
But Simon answered and said, “Pray earnestly to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

Amplified Bible
But Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me both of you, so that nothing of what you have said will come upon me.”

Christian Standard Bible
“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Please pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

American Standard Version
And Simon answered and said, Pray ye for me to the Lord, that none of the things which ye have spoken come upon me.

Contemporary English Version
Simon said, "Please pray to the Lord, so that what you said won't happen to me."

English Revised Version
And Simon answered and said, Pray ye for me to the Lord, that none of the things which ye have spoken come upon me.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me that none of the things you said will happen to me."

Good News Translation
Simon said to Peter and John, "Please pray to the Lord for me, so that none of these things you spoke of will happen to me."

International Standard Version
Simon answered, "Both of you pray to the Lord for me that none of the things you have said will happen to me."

Majority Standard Bible
Then Simon answered, ?Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.?

NET Bible
But Simon replied, "You pray to the Lord for me so that nothing of what you have said may happen to me."

New Heart English Bible
Simon answered, "Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me."

Webster's Bible Translation
Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

Weymouth New Testament
"Pray, both of you, to the Lord for me," answered Simon, "that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."

World English Bible
Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.”
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
And Simon answering, said, “Implore for me to the LORD, that nothing may come on me of the things you have spoken.”

Berean Literal Bible
And Simon answering said, "You pray earnestly to the Lord on behalf of me, so that nothing of which you have spoken may come upon me."

Young's Literal Translation
And Simon answering, said, 'Beseech ye for me unto the Lord, that nothing may come upon me of the things ye have spoken.'

Smith's Literal Translation
And Simon having answered, said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that nothing which ye have spoken come upon me.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Then Simon answering, said: Pray you for me to the Lord, that none of these things which you have spoken may come upon me.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Then Simon responded by saying, “Pray for me to the Lord, so that nothing of what you have said may happen to me.”

New American Bible
Simon said in reply, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

New Revised Standard Version
Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may happen to me.”
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Then Semon answered and said, Pray God for me so that none of these things which you have spoken may come upon me.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Simon answered, and he said, “Ask God for my sake, that none of these things which you have said may come upon me.”
NT Translations
Anderson New Testament
But Simon answered and said: Pray you both to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken come upon me.

Godbey New Testament
And Simon responding said, You pray to the Lord for me, in order that none of these things of which you have spoken may come upon me.

Haweis New Testament
Then Simon answering said, Pray ye for me unto the Lord, that none of the things which ye have spoken may come upon me.

Mace New Testament
Simon answered, do you pray to the Lord for me, that nothing like what you mention may befall me.

Weymouth New Testament
"Pray, both of you, to the Lord for me," answered Simon, "that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."

Worrell New Testament
And Simon answered and said, "Pray ye to the Lord in my behalf, that none of the things which ye have spoken may come upon me."

Worsley New Testament
And Simon answered, and said, Do ye pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which ye have spoken may come upon me.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Simon the Sorcerer
23For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.” 24Then Simon answered, Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” 25And after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritan villages.…

Cross References
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Matthew 6:12
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Luke 11:4
And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

2 Chronicles 7:14
and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Psalm 51:1-2
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. / Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

Psalm 32:5
Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

Proverbs 28:13
He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

Ezekiel 18:21-23
But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. / None of the transgressions he has committed will be held against him. Because of the righteousness he has practiced, he will live. / Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord GOD. Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?

1 Kings 8:33-34
When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple, / then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers.

Jeremiah 31:34
No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

Daniel 9:19
O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.”

Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” / Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!

Mark 11:25
And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well.”


Treasury of Scripture

Then answered Simon, and said, Pray you to the LORD for me, that none of these things which you have spoken come on me.

Pray.

Genesis 20:7,17
Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine…

Exodus 8:8
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD.

Exodus 10:17
Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only.

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Beseech Me Prayer Simon Supplicate Yourselves
Acts 8
1. By occasion of the persecution in Jerusalem, the church being planted in Samaria,
4. by Philip the deacon, who preached, did miracles, and baptized many;
9. among the rest Simon the sorcerer, a great seducer of the people;
14. Peter and John come to confirm and enlarge the church;
15. where, by prayer and imposition of hands giving the Holy Spirit;
18. when Simon would have bought the like power of them,
20. Peter sharply reproving his hypocrisy and covetousness,
22. and exhorting him to repentance,
25. together with John preaching the word of the Lord, return to Jerusalem;
26. but the angel sends Philip to teach and baptize the Ethiopian Eunuch.














Then Simon answered
This phrase introduces Simon's response to the rebuke he received from Peter. Simon, known as Simon the Sorcerer or Simon Magus, had previously attempted to buy the power of the Holy Spirit with money. His response here is crucial as it reflects a moment of realization and fear. The Greek word for "answered" (ἀποκρίνομαι, apokrinomai) implies a reply or response, often in a dialogue. This indicates that Simon is engaging with the apostles, showing a willingness to communicate and perhaps a recognition of his wrongdoing.

Pray to the Lord for me
Simon’s request for prayer is significant. The Greek word for "pray" (δεηθῆτε, deēthēte) suggests a plea or supplication, indicating Simon's desperation and acknowledgment of his need for divine intervention. By asking the apostles to pray "to the Lord," Simon recognizes the authority and power of God, which contrasts with his earlier attempt to manipulate spiritual gifts for personal gain. This request can be seen as a step towards humility, acknowledging that he cannot rectify his situation alone.

so that nothing you have said may happen to me
This phrase reveals Simon's fear of the consequences of his actions. The apostles had warned him of the severe spiritual repercussions of his attempt to purchase the Holy Spirit's power. The Greek word for "happen" (ἐπέλθῃ, epelthē) implies something coming upon or befalling someone, often with a negative connotation. Simon's concern is for his own well-being, which may suggest a self-centered motivation. However, it also shows an understanding of the seriousness of his sin and the reality of divine judgment.From a conservative Christian perspective, this verse underscores the necessity of genuine repentance and the power of intercessory prayer. It highlights the importance of approaching God with a contrite heart and the role of the Christian community in supporting one another through prayer. Simon's account is a powerful illustration of the transformative potential of acknowledging one's sins and seeking God's grace.

(24) Pray ye to the Lord for me.--There is something eminently characteristic in the sorcerer's words. (1) His conscience reads "between the lines" of St. Peter's address what was not actually found there. That "if perhaps" is to him as the knell of doom. (2) He prays not for deliverance from "the bond of iniquity," but only from the vague terror of a future penalty. (3) He turns, not, as Peter had bidden him, to the Lord who was ready to forgive, but to a human mediator. Peter must pray for him who has not faith to pray for himself.

At this point Simon disappears from the history of the Acts, and this seems accordingly the right place for stating briefly the later traditions as to his history. In those traditions he occupies a far more prominent position than in St. Luke's narrative, and becomes, as it has been said, the "hero of the romance of heresy," as given in the Homilies and Recognitions of the Pseudo-Clement. Born at Gittom, in Samaria (Justin, Apol. i. 26), he received his education at Alexandria, and picked up the language of a mystic Gnosticism from Dositheus (Hom. ii. c. 22; Constt. Apost. vi. 8). He had for a short time been a disciple of the Baptist (Hom. c. 23). He murdered a boy that the soul of his victim might become his familiar spirit, and give him insight into the future (Hom. ii. c. 26; Recogn. ii. 9). He carried about with him a woman of great beauty, of the name of Luna or Helena, whom he represented as a kind of incarnation of the Wisdom or Thought of God (Justin, Apol. i. 6; Hom. ii. c. 25; Euseb. Hist. ii. 13). He identified himself with the promised Paraclete and the Christ, and took the name of "He who stands," as indicating divine power (Recogn. ii. 7). He boasted that he could turn himself and others into the form of brute beasts; that he could cause statues to speak (Hom. iv. c. 4; Recogn. ii. 9, iii. 6). His life was one of ostentatious luxury. He was accompanied by the two sons of the Syro-Ph?nician woman of Mark 7:26 (Hom. i. 19). After the episode related in the Acts, he went down to Caesarea, and Peter was then sent thither by James, the Bishop of Jerusalem, to confront and hold a disputation with him on various points of doctrine. From Caesarea he made his way to Tyre and Tripolis, and thence to Rome, and was there worshipped by his followers, so that an altar was seen there by Justin with an inscription, "SIMONI DEO SANCTO" (Apol. i. 56). Peter followed him, and in the reign of Claudius the two met, once more face to face, in the imperial city. According to one legend, he offered to prove his divinity by flying in the air. trusting that the demons whom he employed would support him; but, through the power of the prayers of Peter, he fell down, and had his bones broken, and then committed suicide (Constt. Apost. ii. 14; 6:9). Another represents him as buried alive at his own request, in order that he might show his power by rising on the third day from the dead, and so meeting his death (Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. vi. 20).

In the midst of all this chaos of fantastic fables, we have, perhaps, one grain of fact in Justin's assertion that he had seen the altar above referred to. An altar was discovered at Rome in 1574, on the island in the Tiber, with the inscription "SEMONI SANCO DEO FIDIO." Archaeologists, however, agree in thinking that this was dedicated to the Sabine Hercules, who was known as SEMO SANCUS, and it has been thought by many writers that Justin may have seen this or some like altar, and, in his ignorance of Italian mythology, have imagined that it was consecrated to the Sorcerer of Samaria. His statement is repeated by Tertullian (Apol. c. 13) and Irenaeus (i. 20). Of the three names in the inscription, Semo (probably connected with Semen as the God of Harvest, or as Semihomo) appears by itself in the Hymn of the Fratres Arvales, and in connection with Sancus and Fidius (probably connected with Fides, and so employed in the formula of asseveration, medius fidius) in Ovid, Fast. vi. 213; Livy, viii. 20; 32:1.

Verse 24. - And Simon answered for then answered Simon, A.V.; .for me to the Lord for to the Lord for me, A.V.; the for these, A.V. Pray ye, etc.; addressed to both Peter and John, who were acting together, and whose prayers had been seen to be effectual (ver. 15) in procuring the gift of the Holy Ghost. In like manner, Pharaoh, under the influence of terror at God's judgments, had asked again and again for the prayers of Moses and Aaron (Exodus 8:8, 28; Exodus 9:27, 28; Exodus 10:16, 17, etc.). But in neither ease was this an evidence of true conversion of heart.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Then
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

Simon
Σίμων (Simōn)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4613: Simon. Of Hebrew origin; Simon, the name of nine Israelites.

answered,
Ἀποκριθεὶς (Apokritheis)
Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 611: From apo and krino; to conclude for oneself, i.e. to respond; by Hebraism to begin to speak.

“Pray
Δεήθητε (Deēthēte)
Verb - Aorist Imperative Passive - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 1189: To want for myself; I want, need; I beg, request, beseech, pray. Middle voice of deo; to beg, i.e. Petition.

to
πρὸς (pros)
Preposition
Strong's 4314: To, towards, with. A strengthened form of pro; a preposition of direction; forward to, i.e. Toward.

the
τὸν (ton)
Article - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Lord
Κύριον (Kyrion)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2962: Lord, master, sir; the Lord. From kuros; supreme in authority, i.e. controller; by implication, Master.

for
ὑπὲρ (hyper)
Preposition
Strong's 5228: Gen: in behalf of; acc: above.

me,
ἐμοῦ (emou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

so that
ὅπως (hopōs)
Conjunction
Strong's 3704: From hos and pos; what(-ever) how, i.e. In the manner that (as adverb or conjunction of coincidence, intentional or actual).

nothing
μηδὲν (mēden)
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3367: No one, none, nothing.

you have said
εἰρήκατε (eirēkate)
Verb - Perfect Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 2046: Probably a fuller form of rheo; an alternate for epo in certain tenses; to utter, i.e. Speak or say.

may happen
ἐπέλθῃ (epelthē)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1904: From epi and erchomai; to supervene, i.e. Arrive, occur, impend, attack, influence.

to
ἐπ’ (ep’)
Preposition
Strong's 1909: On, to, against, on the basis of, at.

me.”
ἐμὲ (eme)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.


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