Acts 16:1–21
16 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra,o where a disciple named Timothyp lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believerq but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believersr at Lystra and Iconiums spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.t 4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and eldersu in Jerusalemv for the people to obey.w 5 So the churches were strengthenedx in the faith and grew daily in numbers.y
Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygiaz and Galatia,a having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.b 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesusc would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.d 9 During the night Paul had a visione of a man of Macedoniaf standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, weg got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospelh to them.
Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi
11 From Troasi we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi,j a Roman colony and the leading city of that districta of Macedonia.k And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbathl we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatiram named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heartn to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her householdo were baptized,p she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer,q we were met by a female slave who had a spiritr by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God,s who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.t
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making moneyu was gone, they seized Paul and Silasv and draggedw them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproarx 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romansy to accept or practice.”z