Acts 16:2-38

²He was well spoken of by the brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium.

³Paul wanted him to travel with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to the churches the instructions for them to obey, the instructions that had been written by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.

⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily.

⁶Paul and his companions went through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia, since they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the word in the province of Asia.

⁷When they came near Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus prevented them.

⁸So passing by Mysia, they came down to the city of Troas.

⁹A vision appeared to Paul in the night: A man of Macedonia was standing there, calling him and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰When Paul had seen the vision, immediately we set out to go to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the gospel to them.

¹¹Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day we came to Neapolis.

¹²From there we went to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the most important city in the district and a Roman colony, and we stayed in this city for several days.

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.

²⁷The jailer was awakened from sleep and saw the open prison doors; he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul shouted with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, because we are all here.”

²⁹The jailer called for lights and rushed in and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas,

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

³¹They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your house.”

³²They spoke the word of the Lord to him, together with everyone in his house.

³³Then the jailer took them at the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he and those in his entire house were baptized immediately.

³⁴Then as he brought Paul and Silas up into his house and he set food before them, he rejoiced greatly with those of his house, that he had believed in God.

³⁵Now when it was day, the magistrates sent word to the guards, saying, “Let those men go.”

³⁶The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent word to me to let you go. Now therefore come out, and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “They have publicly beaten us without a trial, even through we are Romans citizens—and they threw us into prison. Do they now want to send us away secretly? No! Let them come themselves and lead us out.”

³⁸The guards reported these words to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Romans, they were afraid.