Acts 16:1-16

¹Amongst other places Paul went to Derbe and Lystra. At the latter place they found a disciple, named Timothy, whose mother was a Jewish woman who was a believer, while his father was a Greek,

²and who was well spoken of by the followers of the Lord in Lystra and Iconium.

³Wishing to take this man with him on his journey, Paul caused him to be circumcised out of consideration for the Jews in that region, for they all knew that his father had been a Greek.

⁴As they travelled from town to town, they gave the followers the decisions which had been reached by the apostles and church elders at Jerusalem, for them to observe.

⁵So the churches grew stronger in the faith, and increased in numbers from day to day.

⁶They next went through the Phrygian district of Galatia, but were restrained by the Holy Spirit from delivering the message in Roman Asia.

⁷When they reached the borders of Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.

⁸Passing through Mysia, they went down to Troas;

⁹and there one night Paul saw a vision. A Macedonian was standing and appealing to him — ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’

¹⁰So, immediately after Paul had seen the vision, we looked for an opportunity to cross over to Macedonia, concluding that God had summoned us to tell the good news to the people there.

¹¹Accordingly we set sail from Troas, and ran before the wind to Samothrace, reaching Neapolis the next day.

¹²From there we made our way to Philippi, which is the principal city of that part of Macedonia, and also a Roman Settlement. In that city we spent several days.

¹³On the Sabbath we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and talked to the women who were gathered there.

¹⁴Amongst them was a woman, named Lydia, belonging to Thyatira, a dealer in purple cloth, who was accustomed to join in the worship of God. The Lord touched this woman's heart, so that she gave attention to the message delivered by Paul,

¹⁵and, when she and her household had been baptised, she urged us to become her guests. “Since you have shown your conviction,” she said, “that I really am a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house.” And she insisted on our doing so.

¹⁶One day, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, we were met by a girl possessed by a divining spirit, who made large profits for her masters by fortune-telling.