Acts 16:1-39

¹And he came to Derbe and Lystra; and lo! a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewess, but whose father was a Greek;

²who was well a spoken of by the brethren in Lystra and Iconium.

³Him Paul wished to go forth with him, and took and circumcised him on account of the Jews who were in those places; for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴And as they journeyed through the cities, they delivered to them for their observance the decrees which had been ordained by the apostles and elders that were at Jerusalem.

⁵The churches therefore were established in the faith, and increased in number daily.

⁶And having gone through Phrygia and the Galatian country, on being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia,

⁷they came to Mysia, and were attempting to go into Bithynia; but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.

⁸And passing by Mysia, they came to Troas.

⁹And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia beseeching him and saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.

¹⁰And when he had seen the vision, we immediately endeavored to go into Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to publish the glad tidings to them.

¹¹And setting sail from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;

¹²and thence to Philippi, which is a chief city of the province of Macedonia, a colony. And we remained in the city some days.

¹³And on the sabbath-day we went forth out of the gate to a river-side, where was wont to be a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had assembled.

¹⁴And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God, was listening; whose heart the Lord opened to attend to the things which were spoken by Paul.

¹⁵And when she had been baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be a believer in the Lord, come into my house, and abide. And she constrained us.

¹⁶And it came to pass, as we were going to the place of prayer, that a certain bond-maid having a soothsaying spirit met us, who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.

¹⁷This woman followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, who announce to you the way of salvation.

¹⁸And this she did for many days. But Paul, being much displeased, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out immediately.

¹⁹But her masters seeing that the hope of their gain was gone, laid hold of Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the market-place to the rulers;

²⁰and having brought them before the magistrates, said, These men are grievously disturbing our city, being Jews;

²¹and they teach customs which it is not lawful for us Romans to receive or observe.

²²And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates, tearing off their clothes, commanded to beat them with rods;

²³and when they had laid on them many stripes, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely;

²⁴who having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

²⁵But at midnight Paul and Silas praying, were singing praises to God; and the prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and all the doors were immediately opened, and the bands of all were loosed.

²⁷And the jailer awakening out of sleep, and seeing the prison-doors open, drew his sword, and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here.

²⁹Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas;

³⁰and having brought them out, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

³¹And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou wilt be saved, and thy household.

³²And they spoke to him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

³³And he took them with him at that hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and he was immediately baptized, himself and all that belonged to him.

³⁴And when he had brought them up into his house, he set food before them, and rejoiced with all his house, having become a believer in God.

³⁵And when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, Release those men.

³⁶And the jailer reported these words to Paul: The magistrates have sent to release you; now therefore come out, and go in peace.

³⁷But Paul said to them, They have publicly beaten us uncondemned, although we are Romans, and have thrust us into prison; and now do they thrust us out secretly? No; but let them come themselves, and bring us out.

³⁸And the sergeants reported these words to the magistrates; and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans.

³⁹And they came and besought them; and when they had brought them out, they entreated them to leave the city.