Acts 16:16–36

Paul and Silas in Prison

¹⁶Now it happened that as we were going to ^athe place of prayer, a servant-girl having ^ba spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

¹⁷Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are slaves of ^athe Most High God, who are proclaiming to you ¹the way of salvation.”

¹⁸And she continued doing this for many days. But being greatly annoyed, Paul turned and said to the spirit, “I command you ^ain the name of Jesus Christ to leave her!” And it left at that very ¹moment.

¹⁹But when her masters saw that their hope of ^aprofit had left, they seized ^bPaul and Silas and ^cdragged them into the marketplace before the authorities,

²⁰and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews,

²¹and ^aare proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being ^bRomans.”

²²And the crowd joined together to attack them, and the chief magistrates, tearing their garments off of them, proceeded to order them to be ^abeaten with rods.

²³And when they had inflicted them with many wounds, they threw them into prison, commanding ^athe jailer to guard them securely,

²⁴who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in ^athe ¹stocks.

The Philippian Jailer Converted

²⁵But about midnight ^aPaul and Silas were praying and ^bsinging hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶And suddenly ^athere came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the jailhouse were shaken; and immediately ^ball the doors were opened and everyone’s ^cchains were unfastened.

²⁷And when ^athe jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about ^bto kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”

²⁹And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before ^aPaul and Silas,

³⁰and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, ^awhat must I do to be saved?”

³¹And they said, “^aBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and ^byour house.”

³²And they spoke the word of ¹the Lord to him together with all who were in his household.

³³And he took them ^athat very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.

³⁴And he brought them into his house and set ¹food before them, and rejoiced ²greatly with ^ahis whole household, because he had believed in God.

³⁵Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.”

³⁶And ^athe jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go ^bin peace.”