Now Paul traveled to ^aDerbe and also to ^bLystra. A disciple named ^cTimothy was there, the son of a ^dJewish woman who was a believer in Christ, however, his father was a Greek. 2 Timothy was well spoken of by ^athe brothers and sisters who were in ^bLystra and ^cIconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to go with him as a missionary; and he ^atook him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered ^athe decrees decided on by ^bthe apostles and ^celders who were in Jerusalem, for the churches to observe. 5 So ^athe churches were strengthened in the faith, and they continually ^bincreased in number day after day.

6 Now they passed through the territory of ^aPhrygia and ^bGalatia, after being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in the west coast province of ^cAsia Minor; 7 and after they came to ^aMysia, they tried to go into ^bBithynia, but the ^cSpirit of Jesus did not permit them; 8 so passing by ^aMysia, they went down to ^bTroas. 9 Then ^aa vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man from the Roman province of ^1bMacedonia was standing and pleading with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 And when he had seen ^athe vision, ^1bwe (including Luke) tried to go on into Macedonia at once, concluding that God had called us to ^cpreach the gospel to them.

11 So setting sail from ^aTroas, we ran ^ba direct course to Samothrace, and the next day went on to Neapolis; 12 and from there we came to ^aPhilippi, which is a leading city of the district of ^bMacedonia, ^ca Roman colony. We stayed on in this city for several days; 13 and on ^athe Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the bank of the Gangites river, where we thought there would be a ¹place of prayer, and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had come there.

14 A woman named ¹Lydia, from the city of ^aThyatira, a dealer in ²purple fabrics who was already ^ba worshiper of God, listened to us; and the Lord ^copened her heart to pay attention and to respond to the things said by Paul. 15 And when she was baptized, along with ^aher household, she pleaded with us, saying, “If you have judged me and decided that I am faithful to the Lord a true believer, come to my house and stay.” And she persuaded us.

16 It happened that as we were on our way to ^athe place of prayer, we were met by a slave-girl who had ^1ba spirit of divination that is, a demonic spirit claiming to foretell the future and discover hidden knowledge, and she brought her owners a good profit by fortune-telling. 17 She followed after Paul and us and kept screaming and shouting, “These men are servants of ^athe Most High God! They are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!” 18 She continued doing this for several days. Then Paul, being greatly annoyed and worn out, turned and said to the spirit inside her, “I command you ^ain the name of Jesus Christ as His representative to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.

19 But when her owners saw that their hope of ^aprofit was gone, they seized ^bPaul and Silas and ^cdragged them before the authorities in the market place where trials were held, 20 and when they had brought them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men, who are Jews, are throwing our city into confusion and causing trouble. 21 They are ^apublicly teaching customs which are unlawful for us, as ^bRomans, to accept or observe.”

22 The crowd also joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and ordered that Paul and Silas be ^abeaten with rods. 2+@Cor 11:25 23 After striking them many times with the rods, they threw them into prison, commanding ^athe jailer to guard them securely. 24 He, having received such a strict command, threw them into the inner prison (dungeon) and fastened their feet in ^athe stocks in an agonizing position.

25 But about midnight when ^aPaul and Silas were praying and ^bsinging hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 suddenly ^athere was a great earthquake, so powerful that the very foundations of the prison were shaken and at once ^ball the doors were opened and everyone’s ^cchains were unfastened. 27 When ^athe jailer, shaken out of sleep, saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about ^bto kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, saying, “Do not hurt yourself, we are all here!” 29 Then the jailer called for torches and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before ^aPaul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out of the inner prison, he said, “Sirs, ^awhat must I do to be saved?”

31 And they answered, “^aBelieve in the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior and entrust yourself to Him and you will be saved, you and ^byour household if they also believe.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord concerning eternal salvation through faith in Christ to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them ^athat very hour of the night and washed their bloody wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34 Then he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, since he had believed in God with ^ahis entire family accepting with joy what had been made known to them about the Christ.

35 Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their officers, saying, “Release those men.” 36 And ^athe jailer repeated the words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent word to release you; so come out now and go ^bin peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without a trial, ^amen who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now they are sending us out secretly? No! Let them come here themselves and bring us out!” 38 The officers reported this message to the chief magistrates, and ¹when they heard that the prisoners were Romans, ^athey were frightened; 39 so they came to the prison and appealed to them with apologies, and when they brought them out, they kept begging them ^ato leave the city. 40 So they left the prison and went to ^aLydia’s house; and when they had seen ^bthe brothers and sisters, they encouraged and comforted them, and left.