Acts 16:13-26

¹³On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we thought there would be a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.

¹⁴A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, listened to us. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

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

¹⁶It came about that, as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain young woman who had a spirit of divination encountered us. She brought her masters much gain by fortunetelling.

¹⁷This woman followed after Paul and us and shouted, saying, “These men are servants of the Most High God. They proclaim to you the way of salvation.”

¹⁸She did this for many days. But Paul, being greatly annoyed by her, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out right away.

¹⁹When her masters saw that their opportunity to make money was now gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.

²⁰When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are stirring up our city. They are Jews.

²¹They proclaim customs that are not lawful for Romans to accept or practice.”

²²Then the crowd rose up together against Paul and Silas; the magistrates tore their garments off them and commanded them to be beaten with rods.

²³When they had laid many blows upon them, they threw them into prison and commanded the jailer to keep them securely.

²⁴After he got this command, the jailer threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains were unfastened.