Acts 16:17-27

¹⁷This girl followed Paul and the rest of us around, shouting, “These men are the servants of Almighty God. They are telling you how to be saved!”

¹⁸She went on doing this for several days. This bothered Paul so he turned around and told the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to leave her!” The spirit immediately left her.

¹⁹But when her masters saw they had lost their means of making money, they grabbed hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace.

²⁰They brought them in front of the magistrates, and accused them: “These Jewish men are causing a great disturbance in our town,” they said.

²¹“They're advocating things that are illegal for us as Romans to accept or to practice.”

²²The crowd joined together in an attack on them. The magistrates tore off Paul and Silas' clothes, and ordered them beaten with rods.

²³After giving them a severe beating, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them locked up.

²⁴The jailer followed his orders. He threw Paul and Silas into the inner cell and shackled their feet in the stocks.

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

²⁶Suddenly a tremendous earthquake shook the foundations of the prison. Immediately all the doors flew open and everyone's chains fell off.

²⁷The jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison wide open. He drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped.