Acts 8:24

Acts 8:24. Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. So Pharaoh entreated Moses to intercede for him with the Eternal (Exodus 8:29; Exodus 9:28; Exodus 10:17), and yet hardened his heart afterwards. Bengel observes here: ‘He confesses his fear of punishment, not horror of guilt.' The history of the Acts never refers again to this episode; so, as far as the New Testament records are concerned, we are left in doubt whether or no St. Peter's solemn words had any effect on the subsequent life and conduct of Simon. Ecclesiastical tradition, however, takes up the story of the unhappy life. This gifted but deeply erring man seems, after his meeting with the apostles, to have gone on from bad to worse. He persevered in his dark pursuits, and soon became notorious as one of the most bitter of the opponents of Christianity.