Acts 16
1 Then came
he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a
certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the
son of a
certain woman, which was a
Jewess, and
believed; but his
father was a
Greek: 2 Which was well
reported of
by the
brethren that were
at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Him would Paul have to go
forth with him; and took and
circumcised him because of the
Jews which were in those quarters: for they
knew all that his father was a
Greek. 4 And as they went
through the
cities, they
delivered them the
decrees for to
keep, that were
ordained of the
apostles and elders which were
at Jerusalem. 5 And
so were the
churches established in the
faith, and increased in
number daily.
6 Now when they had gone
throughout Phrygia and the
region of
Galatia, and were
forbidden of the
Holy Ghost to
preach the
word in Asia, 7 After they were
come to Mysia, they
assayed to
go in
to Bithynia: but the
Spirit suffered them not. 8 And they passing
by Mysia came
down to Troas. 9 And a
vision appeared to
Paul in the
night; There
stood a
man of Macedonia, and
prayed him,
saying, Come
over into Macedonia, and
help us. 10 And after he had
seen the
vision, immediately we
endeavoured to
go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the
Lord had
called us for to preach the
gospel unto
them. 11 Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight
course to Samothracia, and the
next day
to Neapolis; 12 And from
thence to Philippi, which is the
chief city of that
part of
Macedonia, and a
colony: and we
were in that city abiding certain days. 13 And on the
sabbath we went out
of the
city by a river
side, where prayer was
wont to be
made;
and we sat
down, and
spake unto the
women which
resorted thither.
14 And a
certain woman named Lydia, a seller of
purple, of the
city of
Thyatira, which
worshipped God, heard us:
whose heart the
Lord opened, that she
attended unto the things which were
spoken of Paul. 15 And when she was
baptized,
and her household, she
besought us,
saying,
If ye have
judged me to
be faithful to the
Lord, come into my house, and
abide there.
And she
constrained us. 16 And it came to
pass, as
we went to prayer, a
certain damsel possessed with a
spirit of
divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by
soothsaying:
17 The
same followed Paul and us, and
cried,
saying,
These men are the
servants of the most
high God, which shew unto
us the
way of
salvation. 18 And this did
she many days. But Paul, being
grieved,
turned and said to the
spirit, I
command thee in the
name of
Jesus Christ to
come out
of her. And he came
out the
same hour. 19 And when
her masters saw that the
hope of
their gains was
gone, they
caught Paul and Silas, and
drew them
into the
marketplace unto the
rulers, 20 And brought them to the
magistrates, saying,
These men, being Jews, do exceedingly
trouble our city, 21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for
us to
receive,
neither to
observe,
being Romans. 22 And the
multitude rose up
together against them: and the
magistrates rent
off their clothes, and
commanded to
beat them.
23 And when they had
laid many stripes upon
them, they
cast them
into prison, charging the
jailor to
keep them safely: 24 Who, having
received such a
charge, thrust them into the
inner prison, and made their feet fast in the
stocks. 25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang
praises unto
God: and the
prisoners heard them. 26 And suddenly there
was a
great earthquake, so
that the
foundations of the
prison were
shaken:
and immediately all the
doors were
opened,
and every
one's bands were
loosed.
27 And the keeper of the
prison awaking out of his
sleep, and seeing the
prison doors open, he drew
out his
sword, and
would have
killed himself, supposing that the
prisoners had been
fled.
28 But Paul cried with a
loud voice, saying,
Do thyself no harm: for we
are all here. 29 Then he
called for a
light, and sprang
in,
and came trembling, and fell down
before Paul and Silas, 30 And brought them out, and
said,
Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?
31 And they
said,
Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved,
and thy house. 32 And they
spake unto
him the
word of the
Lord, and to
all that were
in his house. 33 And he
took them the same hour of the
night, and
washed their
stripes;
and was
baptized,
he and all his, straightway. 34 And when he had
brought them into his
house, he
set meat before
them,
and rejoiced,
believing in
God with
all his house. 35 And when it
was day, the
magistrates sent the
serjeants, saying,
Let those men go.
36 And the keeper of the
prison told this saying to Paul, The
magistrates have
sent to let you
go:
now therefore depart, and
go in peace. 37 But Paul said unto them, They have
beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have
cast us
into prison; and now do they
thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them
come themselves and
fetch us out.
38 And the
serjeants told these words unto the
magistrates: and they
feared, when they
heard that they
were Romans. 39 And they
came and
besought them, and brought them
out, and
desired them to depart
out of the
city. 40 And they
went out
of the
prison, and
entered into the house of
Lydia: and when they had
seen the
brethren, they
comforted them, and departed.