Acts 8:9

a certain man, called Simon From the Gk. word magos=sorcerer or magician, this man is usually spoken of as Simon Magus. According to Justin Martyr (Apol. i. 26) he was born at Gitton, a village of Samaria. The history which is given of him after the events mentioned in this chapter describes him as persistently hostile to St Peter and as following that Apostle to Rome to oppose his teaching. But much that is related is of very doubtful authority. He is said to have been deified at Rome, but it seems probable that Justin mistook a tablet, which was discovered in the sixteenth century with an inscription "Semoni Sanco deo fidio" which was erected in honour of the Sabine Hercules, for a record of Divine honours paid to this Simon Magus.

which beforetime in the same city used sorcery There is no word for "same" in the original. The sorcery which Simon, and men like him, used was probably no more than a greater knowledge of some of the facts of chemistry by which they at first attracted attention and then traded on the credulity of those who came to consult them. From the time of their sojourn in Egypt the Jews had known of such impostors, and in their traditional literature some of the "wisdom" of Moses partakes of this character.

and bewitched[amazed] the people of Samaria The same verb is used (Acts 8:13) of the feeling produced in Simon himself by the sight of Philip's miracles, and is there rendered "wondered."

giving out that himself was some great one The general expectation that some great person was to arise among the Jews dictated the form in which impostors would proclaim themselves and aided them in procuring credence for what they said.