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The Acts of the Apostles 16

16 Paul and Silas went to the cities of Derbe and Lystra and visited the believers there. Now a believer whose name was Timothy lived in Lystra. His mother was a Jewish woman who believed in Jesus. His father, however, was a Greek man. Because this man was not Jewish, he did not observe the law of Moses. 2 The believers in Lystra and Iconium said good things about Timothy. 3 Paul wanted to take Timothy with him when he went to other places, so he arranged for someone to circumcise Timothy. Paul did that so that the Jews who lived in those other places would accept Timothy. Those Jews knew that Timothy’s non-Jewish father would not have circumcised him.

4 So Timothy went with Paul and Silas, and they traveled to many other towns. In each town they encouraged the believers to do what the apostles and elders in Jerusalem had told them to do.

5 They helped the believers in those towns to trust Jesus even more. More people became believers every day.

6 Paul and his companions wanted to share the good news about Jesus in the province of Asia. But the Holy Spirit showed them that he did not want them to do that. So they went instead through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia, trying to discover where the Holy Spirit wanted them to share the good news. 7 They arrived at the border of the province of Mysia. From there they wanted to go north into the province of Bithynia. But once again the Holy Spirit showed them that he did not want them to share the good news there. 8 So they went through the province of Mysia and arrived at Troas, a city by the sea. 9 That night God gave Paul a vision in which he saw a man from the province of Macedonia. That man was begging Paul, “Come across the sea to Macedonia and help us!” 10 I, Luke, joined Paul and his companions in Troas. After Paul saw that vision, we made arrangements right away to travel to Macedonia. We were certain that God had called us to share the good news about Jesus with the people there.

11 We got on a boat and sailed from Troas right to the island of Samothrace. The next day we sailed to the city of Neapolis. 12 Then we left Neapolis and went to Philippi. It was a very important city in the province of Macedonia. Many Roman citizens lived there. We decided to stay in Philippi for a while.

13 On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate and walked down to the river. Since there was no synagogue in the city, we knew that Jewish people would gather to pray at a place like that. When we arrived, we saw some women who had gathered to pray. So we sat down and began to tell them about Jesus. 14 A woman whose name was Lydia was one of the women who was listening to Paul. She was from the city of Thyatira, She was a merchant who sold luxurious purple cloth. She believed in the God of Israel and worshiped him. The Lord God enabled her to understand what Paul was saying, and she trusted in Jesus. 15 Paul baptized Lydia and the others who lived in her house. Then she said to us, “If you recognize that I believe sincerely in Jesus, please come to my house and stay there.” So we accepted her invitation and stayed at her house.

16 Another day, as we were going to the place where people gathered to pray, we met a young woman who was a slave. An evil spirit was giving her the power to tell what would happen to people in the future. People paid a lot of money to the men who were her owners so that she would tell them what was going to happen to them. 17 This young woman followed Paul and the rest of us everywhere we went. She was continually shouting, “These men serve the God who is the greatest of all gods! They are telling you how God can save you!” 18 She continued to do this for many days. Finally, Paul became so upset that he turned toward the young woman and spoke to the evil spirit that was in her. He said, “In the name of Jesus the Messiah, I command you to come out of her!” Immediately the evil spirit left her. 19 Then her owners realized that she could no longer predict what would happen to people. That meant she could no longer earn money for them. That made them very angry. They grabbed Paul and Silas and took them to the open area of the city where its rulers were so that the rulers could judge them. 20 The owners of the young woman brought them to the city rulers. They told them, “These men are Jews, and they are greatly troubling the people in our city. 21 They are teaching that we should do things that our Roman laws do not allow us to do!” 22 Many people in the crowd joined those who were accusing Paul and Silas. This convinced the Roman rulers that they must be bad men. So the rulers told soldiers to tear the shirts off Paul and Silas and beat them with wooden rods. 23 So the soldiers beat Paul and Silas badly with rods. After that, they took them and put them into the prison. They told the jailer to make sure they did not get out. 24 Because the officials had told him to do that, the jailer put Paul and Silas into the room that was farthest inside the prison. There he made them sit down on the floor and stretch out their legs. Then he fastened their ankles in holes between two large pieces of wood so that Paul and Silas could not move their legs.

25 About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and praising God by singing songs. The other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a very strong earthquake that shook the whole jail. As soon as the earthquake struck, it caused all of the doors of the jail to open and all of the chains that fastened the prisoners to fall off. 27 The jailer woke up and saw that the earthquake had opened the doors of the jail. He thought that the prisoners had left the jail. So he pulled out his sword to kill himself, because he knew that the city rulers would kill him if the prisoners had escaped. 28 Paul saw the jailer and shouted to him, “Do not kill yourself! We prisoners are all here!” 29 The jailer shouted to someone to bring torches. It was midnight and dark, and he wanted to be sure that all the prisoners were still in the prison. He hurried in to the inner cell where he had put Paul and Silas. The jailer was shaking with fear, because the rulers had told him to guard them carefully. When he saw that Paul and Silas were still there, he knelt down in front of them to honor them for sparing his life by not escaping. 30 Then he brought Paul and Silas out of the jail. He asked them, “Sirs, I want God to save me. What do I need to do?” 31 They answered, “If you put your trust in Jesus as your Lord, God will save you. God will also save everyone in your family if they trust in Jesus.”

32 Then Paul and Silas spoke about Jesus to him and everyone in his family. 33 The jailer washed their wounds, even though it was the middle of the night. Then right away Paul and Silas baptized him and everyone in his family. 34 Then the jailer brought Paul and Silas into his house and gave them some food to eat. He and his whole family were all very happy because they had believed in God.

35 The next morning, the city rulers told some officers to go to the prison and tell the jailer, “Let those two prisoners go now!” 36 When the jailer heard this, he went and told Paul, “The city rulers have told me to let you go. So you two can leave the prison now. Do not worry, no one will arrest you again.” 37 But Paul said to the jailer, with the officers listening, “The city rulers had their soldiers beat us in front of a crowd. Without convicting us of any crime, they put us in prison. They did those things to us even though we are Roman citizens. And now they want to send us away without telling anyone! We will not accept that! Those city rulers must come themselves and free us from prison.” 38 So the officers went and told the city rulers that Paul and Silas were refusing to leave the prison unless the rulers came and released them personally. When the city rulers learned that they were Roman citizens, they became very afraid. They knew that they had done the wrong thing by beating Roman citizens and putting them in prison without a trial. 39 So the city rulers came to Paul and Silas and told them that they were sorry for what they had done to them. The city rulers brought them out of the prison and asked them to leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas left the prison, they went to Lydia’s house. There they met with her and the other believers. They encouraged the believers to continue trusting in the Lord Jesus. Then Paul, Silas, and Timothy left the city of Philippi. I, Luke, remained there for some time.

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