Acts 16–20

Chapter 16

The Macedonian Vision

¹Paul came also to ^aDerbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named ^bTimothy, the son of a ^cJewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek,

²and he was well spoken of by ^athe brethren who were in ^bLystra and ^cIconium.

³Paul wanted this man to ¹go with him; and he ^atook him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering ^athe decrees which had been decided upon by ^bthe apostles and ^celders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe.

⁵So ^athe churches were being strengthened ¹in the faith, and were ^bincreasing in number daily.

⁶They passed through the ^1aPhrygian and ^bGalatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in ^2cAsia;

⁷and after they came to ^aMysia, they were trying to go into ^bBithynia, and the ^cSpirit of Jesus did not permit them;

⁸and passing by ^aMysia, they came down to ^bTroas.

^9aA vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of ^bMacedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰When he had seen ^athe vision, immediately ^bwe sought to ¹go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to ^cpreach the gospel to them.

¹¹So putting out to sea from ^aTroas, we ran ^ba straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;

¹²and from there to ^aPhilippi, which is a leading city of the district of ^bMacedonia, ^ca Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days.

¹³And on ^athe Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

First Convert in Europe

¹⁴A woman named Lydia, from the city of ^aThyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, ^ba worshiper of God, was listening; ¹and the Lord ^copened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

¹⁵And when she and ^aher household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶It happened that as we were going to ^athe place of prayer, a slave-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 bond-servants of ^athe Most High God, who are proclaiming to you ¹the way of salvation.”

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

¹⁹But when her masters saw that their hope of ^aprofit was ¹gone, they seized ^bPaul and Silas and ^cdragged them into the market place 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 which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being ^bRomans.”

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

²²The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their ¹robes off them and proceeded to order ²them to be ^abeaten with rods.

²³When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding ^athe jailer to guard them securely;

²⁴¹and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in ^athe ²stocks.

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 prison house were shaken; and immediately ^ball the doors were opened and everyone’s ^cchains were unfastened.

²⁷When ^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?”

The Jailer Converted

³¹They said, “^aBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and ^byour household.”

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

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, having believed in God with ^ahis whole household.

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.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, ^amen who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.”

³⁸The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. ^aThey were afraid when they heard that they were Romans,

³⁹and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them ^ato leave the city.

⁴⁰They went out of the prison and entered the house of ^aLydia, and when they saw ^bthe brethren, they ¹encouraged them and departed.

Chapter 17

Paul at Thessalonica

¹Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to ^aThessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

²And ^aaccording to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three ^bSabbaths reasoned with them from ^cthe Scriptures,

³¹explaining and ²giving evidence that the ³Christ ^ahad to suffer and ^brise again from the dead, and saying, “^cThis Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”

^4aAnd some of them were persuaded and joined ^bPaul and Silas, ¹along with a large number of the ^cGod-fearing ^dGreeks and ²a number of the ^eleading women.

⁵But ^athe Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of ^bJason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people.

⁶When they did not find them, they began ^adragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset ^1bthe world have come here also;

⁷¹and Jason ^ahas welcomed them, and they all act ^bcontrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

⁸They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things.

⁹And when they had received a ¹pledge from ^aJason and the others, they released them.

Paul at Berea

^10aThe brethren immediately sent ^bPaul and Silas away by night to ^cBerea, ¹and when they arrived, they went into ^dthe synagogue of the Jews.

¹¹Now these were more noble-minded than those in ^aThessalonica, ¹for they received the word with ²great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

¹²Therefore ^amany of them believed, ¹along with a number of ^bprominent Greek ^cwomen and men.

¹³But when the Jews of ^aThessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in ^bBerea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

¹⁴Then immediately ^athe brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and ^bSilas and ^cTimothy remained there.

¹⁵Now ^athose who escorted Paul brought him as far as ^bAthens; and receiving a command for ^cSilas and Timothy to ^dcome to him as soon as possible, they left.

Paul at Athens

¹⁶Now while Paul was waiting for them at ^aAthens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.

¹⁷So he was reasoning ^ain the synagogue with the Jews and ^bthe God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.

¹⁸And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were ¹conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would ^athis ²idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching ^bJesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹And they ^atook him and brought him ¹to the ^2bAreopagus, saying, “May we know what ^cthis new teaching is ³which you are proclaiming?

²⁰“For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.”

²¹(Now all the Athenians and the strangers ^avisiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

Sermon on Mars Hill

²²So Paul stood in the midst of the ¹Areopagus and said, “Men of ^aAthens, I observe that you are very ^breligious in all respects.

²³“For while I was passing through and examining the ^aobjects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what ^byou worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

²⁴“^aThe God who made the world and all things in it, since He is ^bLord of heaven and earth, does not ^cdwell in temples made with hands;

²⁵nor is He served by human hands, ^aas though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;

²⁶and ^aHe made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having ^bdetermined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

²⁷that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, ^athough He is not far from each one of us;

²⁸for ^ain Him we live and move and ¹exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’

²⁹“Being then the children of God, we ^aought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

³⁰“Therefore having ^aoverlooked ^bthe times of ignorance, God is ^cnow declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,

³¹because He has fixed ^a…