Acts 16–20

Paul Selects Timothy

16Then he went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, ^kthe son of a believing Jewish woman, ^lbut his father was a Greek. ²The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him. ^m3Paul wanted Timothy ⁿto go with him, so he took him and circumcised ^ohim because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for them to observe. ^p5So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. ^q

Evangelization of Europe

⁶They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia and were prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in Asia. ^r7When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus ^sdid not allow them. ⁸So, bypassing Mysia, they came down to Troas. ^t9During the night a vision appeared to Paul: A Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!” ^u10After ^vhe had seen the vision, we ^wimmediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to evangelize them.

Lydia’s Conversion

¹¹Then, setting sail from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis, ¹²and from there to Philippi, ^xa Roman colony, which is a leading city of that district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for a number of days. ¹³On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. ¹⁴A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was spoken by Paul. ^y15After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” ^zAnd she persuaded us.

Paul and Silas in Prison

¹⁶Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit of prediction. ^abShe made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you ^cthe way of salvation, are the slaves of the Most High God.” ¹⁸And she did this for many days.

But Paul was greatly aggravated and turning to the spirit, said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away. ^de

¹⁹When her owners saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas ^fand dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. ²⁰Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews ²¹and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.” ^g

²²Then the mob joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. ^h23After they had inflicted many blows on them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to keep them securely guarded. ²⁴Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks. ⁱ

A Midnight Deliverance

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose. ^j27When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because all of us are here!”

²⁹Then the jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ^k

³¹So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ^l32Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house. ³³He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized. ³⁴He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had believed God with his entire household. ^m

An Official Apology

³⁵When daylight came, the chief magistrates sent the police to say, “Release those men!”

³⁶The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.” ⁿ

³⁷But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to smuggle us out secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out!” ^o

³⁸Then the police reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. ³⁹So they came and apologized to them, and escorting them out, they urged them to leave town. ⁴⁰After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house where they saw and encouraged the brothers, and departed. ^p

A Short Ministry in Thessalonica

17Then they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, ^qwhere there was a Jewish synagogue. ²As usual, Paul went to the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, ^r3explaining and showing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.” ^s4Then some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a great number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number ^tof the leading women. ^u

Riot in the City

⁵But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some scoundrels from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly. ^v6When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, ⁷and Jason has received them as guests! They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, ^wsaying that there is another king—Jesus!” ^x8The Jews stirred up the crowd and the city officials who heard these things. ⁹So taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

The Bereans Search the Scriptures

¹⁰As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea. ^yOn arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures ^zdaily to see if these things were so. ¹²Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men. ¹³But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that God’s message had been proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there too, agitating and disturbing ^athe crowds. ¹⁴Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to go to the sea, but Silas and Timothy ^bstayed on there. ¹⁵Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed. ^c

Paul in Athens

¹⁶While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was troubled within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. ^d18Then also, some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, “What is this pseudo-intellectual ^etrying to say?”

Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities”—because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the Resurrection. ^fg

¹⁹They took him and brought him to the Areopagus, ^hand said, “May we learn about this new teaching you’re speaking of? ⁱ²⁰For what you say sounds strange to us, and we want to know what these ideas mean.” ²¹Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.

The Areopagus Address

²²Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. ²³For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed:

TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it ^j—He is Lord of heaven and earth ^kand does not live in shrines made by hands. ^l25Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, ^msince He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. ⁿ²⁶From one man ^oHe has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. ^p27He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ^q28For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ ^rs29Being God’s offspring then, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination. ^t

³⁰“Therefore, having overlooked ^uthe times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because He has set a day when He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.” ^v

³²When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him. But others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.” ³³Then Paul left their presence. ³⁴However, some men joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman…