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Acts 16–21

16 Then 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: Which dwas well reported of by the brethren that were at aLystra and eIconium. Him 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. And 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. And so were lthe churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily. Now when they had gone throughout mPhrygia and the region of nGalatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in oAsia, After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into pBithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to qTroas. And 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. 10 And 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. 11 Therefore loosing from qTroas, we ucame with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; 12 And 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.

13 And 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. 14 And 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. 15 And 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. 16 And 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: 17 The 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. 18 And 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. 19 And 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, 20 And brought them to sthe magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, tdo exceedingly trouble our city, 21 And uteach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, vbeing Romans. 22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the smagistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded wto beat them. 23 And when they had laid many xstripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging ythe jailor to keep them safely: 24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner zprison, and made their feet fast ain the stocks.

25 And bat midnight Paul and cSilas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 And 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. 27 And 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. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29 Then he called for a light, and hsprang in, and came trembling, and ifell down before Paul and cSilas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, kwhat must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, lBelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and mthy house. 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to mall that were in his house. 33 And he took them nthe same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and lwas baptized, he and mall his, straightway. 34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with mall his house.

35 And when it was day, othe magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. 36 And 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. 37 But 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. 38 And the serjeants told these words unto othe magistrates: and rthey feared, when they heard that they were Romans. 39 aAnd they came and besought them, and brought them out, and sdesired them to depart out of the city. 40 And 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.

17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to aThessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, bas his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them cout of the scriptures, dOpening 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. gAnd 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. But 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. And 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; Whom Jason hath ureceived: and these all do contrary to the vdecrees of Caesar, wsaying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.

10 And qthe brethren immediately xsent away Paul and hSilas by night unto Berea: who coming thither bwent into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These 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. 12 Therefore many of them believed; also of bhonourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. 13 But 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. 14 And then immediately the brethren dsent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but eSilas and fTimotheus abode there still. 15 And 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. 17 Therefore ldisputed he min the synagogue with the Jews, and with the ndevout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. 18 Then 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. 19 And they took him, and brought him unto ||Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? 20 For 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.) 22 Then Paul stood in the midst of ||Mars’ hill, and said,

Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too rsuperstitious. 23 For 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. 24 uGod that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is xLord of heaven and earth, ydwelleth not in temples zmade with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, aas though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all blife, and breath, and all things; 26 And 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; 27 That 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: 28 For 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. 29 Forasmuch 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. 30 And the times of this ignorance God iwinked at; but know commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because 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.

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

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