¹⁴ Meanwhile word had reached the Lord’s emissaries^[a] in Jerusalem that the message of God was welcomed in Samaria—a land of half-breeds and heretics in the minds of many Judeans. They sent Peter and John ¹⁵ to pray for the Samaritans. They were especially eager to see if the new believers would receive the Holy Spirit ¹⁶ because until this point they had been baptized^[b] in the name of the Lord Jesus but had not experienced the Holy Spirit.