Acts 16:1-21

¹Now he arrived at Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek,

²who had a good testimony by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium.

³Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him, because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was Greek.

⁴And as they were going through the cities, they were delivering to them the decrees to keep, which had been decided by the apostles and the elders at Jerusalem.

⁵Therefore the churches were strengthened in the faith, and were growing in number each day.

⁶Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the Galatian region, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit from speaking the word in Asia.

⁷And having come to Mysia they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.

⁸So they bypassed Mysia, and went down to Troas.

⁹And a vision appeared during the night to Paul. A certain man of Macedonia was standing, urging him, and saying, “Come across to Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰Now when he saw the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹Therefore, putting to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis,

¹²and from there to Philippi, which is chief of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were spending some days in that very city.

¹³And on the Sabbath day we went outside the city beside a river, where prayer was customarily made; and having sat down we spoke to the women who assembled together there.

¹⁴And a certain woman named Lydia, a dealer of purple cloth of the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened to give heed to the things spoken by Paul.

¹⁵And when she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.

¹⁶Now it came to pass, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl, having a spirit of Python, met us, who brought much profit to her masters by fortune telling.

¹⁷This girl, following after Paul and us, was crying out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”

¹⁸And this she did for many days. But Paul, being greatly annoyed and turning around, said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out in that very hour.

¹⁹And when her masters saw that the hope of their profit was gone, they took Paul and Silas, and dragged them to the marketplace before the rulers.

²⁰And bringing them to the magistrates they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city;

²¹and they are proclaiming customs which are not lawful for us to receive or to do, since we are Romans.”