Acts 16:1–21

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.”