Acts 16:21-39

²¹They are teaching that we (inc) should follow customs that our laws do not allow us Romans to consider to be correct or to obey!”

²²Many of the crowd joined those who were accusing Paul and Silas, and started beating them. Then the Roman authorities commanded soldiers to tear the shirts off Paul and Silas and to beat them with rods/sticks.

²³So the soldiers beat Paul and Silas vigorously with rods. After that, they took them and shoved them into the prison. They told the jailer that he should lock them up securely.

²⁴Because the officials had commanded him to do that, the jailer shoved Paul and Silas into the cell that was farthest inside. There, he made them sit down on the floor/ground and stretch out their legs. Then he fastened their ankles in grooves between two large wooden beams, so that Paul and Silas could not move their legs.

²⁵About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying aloud and praising God by singing hymns. The other prisoners were listening attentively to them.

²⁶Suddenly there was a very strong earthquake. It shook the entire jail SYN and its foundation SYN. The earthquake caused all the doors of the jail to open suddenly, and caused all the chains that fastened the prisoners to fall off.

²⁷The jailer woke up and saw that the doors of the jail were open. He thought that the prisoners had escaped. So he pulled out his sword in order to kill himself, because he knew that the officials would kill him if the prisoners escaped.

²⁸Paul saw the jailer and shouted to him, “Do not harm yourself! We (exc) prisoners are all here!”

²⁹The jailer shouted to someone to bring torches/lanterns, and after they brought them, he rushed into the jail and knelt down in front of Paul and Silas. He was very afraid, so much so that he was trembling/shaking.

³⁰Then he brought Paul and Silas out of the jail and asked: “Sirs, what do I need to do to be saved from being punished for my sins?”

³¹They answered, “Trust in what the Lord Jesus has done for you, and you will be saved { God will save you}, and the others who live in MTY your house will also be saved if they believe in Jesus.”

³²Then the jailer took Paul and Silas into his house, washed their wounds, and gave them a meal. He woke up all the people in his house, and Paul and Silas told all of them the message about the Lord Jesus. They all believed in him. Immediately after that, the jailer and all his family were baptized { Paul and Silas baptized the jailer and all his family}. They were very happy, because now they all believed in God.

³⁵The next morning, the Roman officials commanded some police officers to go to the jail to say to the jailer, “ Our bosses say, ‘Let those two prisoners go now!’”

³⁶After the officers went and told that to the jailer, he went and told Paul, “The Roman authorities have sent a message (sg) saying that I should release you (sg) and Silas from prison. So you two can leave the jail now. Now you can go peacefully!”

³⁷But Paul said to the police officers, “The authorities commanded men to beat us in front of a crowd before those authorities had learned if we (exc) had done anything wrong! Then they ordered men to shove us into jail! But that was not legal, because we (exc) are Roman citizens! And now they want RHQ to send us away secretly! We will not accept that! Those Roman officials must come themselves and tell us that they are sorry, and take us out of jail.”

³⁸So the police officers went and told the city authorities what Paul had said. When those authorities heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were afraid that someone would report to more important officials what they had done, and as a result they would be punished { those officials would punish them}.

³⁹So the city authorities came to Paul and Silas and told them that they were sorry for what they had done to them. The authorities brought them out of the jail, and repeatedly asked them to leave the city soon.