Acts 16

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.