And a certain man, by name Simon, was before in the city using magic, and amazing the nation of Samaria, saying himself to be a certain great one,

and they were giving heed to him, because of his having for a long time amazed them with deeds of magic.

Now as they travelled through the island as far as Paphos, they found a certain person who professed magic, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus:

Many believers would also come to confess and disclose their magic spells;

while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver.

but Elymas (a name which signifies Magus) opposed them, endeavouring to seduce the proconsul from the faith.