Acts 16–20

16Then came he to ^aDerbe and ^aLystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named ^bTimotheus, ^cthe son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: ²Which ^dwas well reported of by the brethren that were at ^aLystra and ^eIconium. ³Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and ^ftook and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they ^gknew all that his father was a Greek. ⁴And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the ^hdecrees for to keep, ⁱthat were ordained of the apostles and ^kelders which were at Jerusalem. ⁵And so were ^lthe churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily. ⁶Now when they had gone throughout ^mPhrygia and the region of ⁿGalatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in ^oAsia, ⁷After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into ^pBithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. ⁸And they passing by Mysia came down to ^qTroas. ⁹And ^ra vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of ^xMacedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. ¹⁰And after he had seen ^rthe vision, immediately ^swe endeavoured to go into ^xMacedonia, ^tassuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. ¹¹Therefore loosing from ^qTroas, we ^ucame with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; ¹²And from thence to ^wPhilippi, which is ^||the chief city of that part of ^xMacedonia, and ^ya colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.

¹³And on the ^†sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. ¹⁴And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of ^zThyatira, ^awhich worshipped God, heard us: whose ^bheart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. ¹⁵And when she was baptized, ^cand her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and ^dabide there. And she ^econstrained us. ¹⁶And it came to pass, as we went to ^fprayer, a certain damsel possessed with ^ga spirit ^||of ^hdivination met us, which brought her masters ⁱmuch gain by soothsaying: ¹⁷The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, ^kThese men are the servants of ^lthe most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. ¹⁸And this did she many days. ^kBut Paul, ^mbeing grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ ⁿto come out of her. ^oAnd he came out the same hour. ¹⁹And ^pwhen her masters saw that the hope of their ⁱgains was gone, they caught Paul and ^qSilas, and ^rdrew them into the ^||marketplace unto the rulers, ²⁰And brought them to ^sthe magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, ^tdo exceedingly trouble our city, ²¹And ^uteach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, ^vbeing Romans. ²²And the multitude rose up together against them: and the ^smagistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded ^wto beat them. ²³And when they had laid many ^xstripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging ^ythe jailor to keep them safely: ²⁴Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner ^zprison, and made their feet fast ^ain the stocks.

²⁵And ^bat midnight Paul and ^cSilas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. ²⁶And suddenly ^dthere was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all ^ethe doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. ²⁷And ^fthe keeper of the prison ^gawaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. ²⁸But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. ²⁹Then he called for a light, and ^hsprang in, and came trembling, and ⁱfell down before Paul and ^cSilas, ³⁰And brought them out, and said, Sirs, ^kwhat must I do to be saved? ³¹And they said, ^lBelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and ^mthy house. ³²And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to ^mall that were in his house. ³³And he took them ⁿthe same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and ^lwas baptized, he and ^mall his, straightway. ³⁴And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with ^mall his house.

³⁵And when it was day, ^othe magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. ³⁶And ^fthe keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, ^oThe magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and ^pgo in peace. ³⁷But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly ^quncondemned, being ^qRomans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. ³⁸And the serjeants told these words unto ^othe magistrates: and ^rthey feared, when they heard that they were Romans. ^39aAnd they came and besought them, and brought them out, and ^sdesired them to depart out of the city. ⁴⁰And they went out of the prison, and entered into ^tthe house of Lydia: and when they had seen ^uthe brethren, they ^xcomforted them, and departed.

17Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to ^aThessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: ²And Paul, ^bas his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them ^cout of the scriptures, ^3dOpening and alleging, that ^eChrist must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this ^fJesus, ^||whom I preach unto you, is Christ. ^4gAnd some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and ^hSilas; and of the ⁱdevout ^kGreeks a great multitude, and of ^lthe chief women not a few. ⁵But ^mthe Jews which believed not, ⁿmoved with envy, took unto them certain ^olewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of ^pJason, and sought to bring them out to the people. ⁶And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain ^qbrethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, ^rThese that have ^sturned ^tthe world upside down are come hither also; ⁷Whom Jason hath ^ureceived: and these all do contrary to the ^vdecrees of Caesar, ^wsaying that there is another king, one Jesus. ⁸And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. ⁹And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.

¹⁰And ^qthe brethren immediately ^xsent away Paul and ^hSilas by night unto Berea: who coming thither ^bwent into the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹These were more ^ynoble than those in ^aThessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and ^zsearched the scriptures ^adaily, whether those things were so. ¹²Therefore many of them believed; also of ^bhonourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. ¹³But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at ^cBerea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. ¹⁴And then immediately the brethren ^dsent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but ^eSilas and ^fTimotheus abode there still. ¹⁵And they that ^gconducted Paul brought him unto ^hAthens: and ⁱreceiving a commandment unto ^eSilas and ^fTimotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.

^16*kNow while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city ^||wholly given to idolatry. ¹⁷Therefore ^ldisputed he ^min the synagogue with the Jews, and with the ⁿdevout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. ¹⁸Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this ^||babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because ^ohe preached unto them Jesus, and ^pthe resurrection. ¹⁹And they took him, and brought him unto ^||Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? ²⁰For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. ²¹(For all the Athenians and ^qstrangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) ²²Then Paul stood in the midst of ^||Mars’ hill, and said,

Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too ^rsuperstitious. ²³For as I passed by, and beheld your ^||devotions, I found an altar with this ^sinscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, ^thim declare I unto you. ^24uGod that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is ^xLord of heaven and earth, ^ydwelleth not in temples ^zmade with hands; ²⁵Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, ^aas though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all ^blife, and breath, and all things; ²⁶And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath ^cdetermined the times before appointed, and ^dthe bounds of their habitation; ²⁷That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, ^ethough he be not far from every one of us: ²⁸For ^fin him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of ^gyour own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. ²⁹Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, ^hwe ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. ³⁰And the times of this ignorance God ⁱwinked at; but ^know commandeth all men every where to repent: ³¹Because he hath appointed a day, in the which ^lhe will judge ^mthe world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ^cordained; whereof he ^||hath given assurance unto all men, in that ⁿhe hath raised him from the dead.

³²And when they heard of ^othe resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, ^pWe will hear thee again of this matter. ³³So Paul departed from among them. ³⁴…