Acts
Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where he met a disciple named
Timothy. He was the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his
father was a Greek.
The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him.
Paul wanted Timothy to travel with him, so he took him and circumcised
him because of the Jews
in the area, as they all knew that his father was
Greek.
As they went on their way through the towns, they delivered the
decisions from the Apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the Gentile believers to follow.
So
the churches were being strengthened in the faith and increasing in number
daily.
They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, after they were
prevented by the holy spirit from speaking the Gospel-word in the province of Asia.
After they went to Mysia they tried to go into Bithynia, but the spirit of
Jesus
did not permit them.
So they passed by Mysia and went to Troas.
There Paul had a vision one night of a man from Macedonia standing and
begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”
When Paul had seen
this vision, we
immediately made every effort to go to Macedonia,
concluding that God had summoned us to proclaim the Gospel to them.
Setting sail from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and
the next day to Neapolis,
and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city in that district of Macedonia. We stayed some days in this city.
On the Sabbath day we went out of the city gates to the riverside where we
assumed that there would be a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the
women who had gathered there.
A woman named Lydia, a seller of purple cloth from the city of
Thyatira, one who worshiped God, listened to us. The Lord opened her mind
to respond to what Paul was saying.
After she and her household had been baptized,
she urged us, “If you consider me to be a believer in the lord, come
and stay at my house.” So she persuaded us.
As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl
who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future. She brought her masters much money by
fortune-telling.
Following Paul and us, she kept crying out, “These men are
servants of the Most High God, and are proclaiming to you the way of
salvation!”
She continued this for many days. Paul became very annoyed
and turned and said to the spirit,
“I command you in the name of Jesus
Messiah to come out of her!” The spirit came out that very moment.
But when her masters saw that their source of profit was gone, they
seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the
authorities.
When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said,
“These Jewish men are disturbing our city,
advocating customs which
it is not lawful for us Romans to accept or observe.”
The crowd joined in the attack against them. The magistrates had them
stripped and beaten with rods.
After they had beaten them severely, they
threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to guard them securely.
The jailer
followed his orders. He threw them into the innermost part of the prison and secured their
feet with chains.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Suddenly there was
a great earthquake, and the foundations of the prison were shaken.
Immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains fell off.
The
jailer awoke, and when he saw the prison doors open he drew his sword and
was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul
shouted, “Do not harm yourself — we are all here!”
The jailer called for
lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling with fear before Paul and Silas.
He brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what do I have to do to be saved?”
They responded, “Believe in the lord Jesus,
and you will be saved, you and
your household.”
Then they spoke the Gospel-word of the lord to him and to all who were in his house.
He took them that same hour of the night
and washed their wounds, and was immediately baptized, he and his
household.
He brought them to his house and served them food. The jailer
and his household were full of joy because they had come to believe in God.
When day came the magistrates sent their officers, saying, “Let those men
go.”
The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have
sent word to let you go. So then come out and go in peace.”
But Paul said to
the officers, “They have beaten us publicly without a trial, and we are Roman
citizens. They threw us into prison! And now they intend to send us away
secretly? No, certainly not! Let them come themselves and bring us out!”
The officers reported these words to the magistrates, who were afraid when
they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens,
and they came and apologized
to them. When they had brought them out they kept begging them to depart
from the city.
So when they had gone out of the prison they went to Lydia’s house.
When they saw the brothers and sisters, they encouraged them and then
departed.
Acts