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Acts 16

The Macedonian Vision

1

Paul came also to  aDerbe and to  aLystra. And a disciple was there, named  bTimothy, the son of a  cJewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek,

2

and he was well spoken of by  athe brethren who were in  bLystra and  cIconium.

3

Paul wanted this man to  1go with him; and he  atook him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

4

Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering  athe decrees which had been decided upon by  bthe apostles and  celders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe.

5

So  athe churches were being strengthened  1in the faith, and were  bincreasing in number daily.

6

They passed through the  1 aPhrygian and  bGalatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in  2 cAsia;

7

and after they came to  aMysia, they were trying to go into  bBithynia, and the  cSpirit of Jesus did not permit them;

8

and passing by  aMysia, they came down to  bTroas.

9

 aA vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of  bMacedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

10

When he had seen  athe vision, immediately  bwe sought to  1go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to  cpreach the gospel to them.

11

So putting out to sea from  aTroas, we ran  ba straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;

12

and from there to  aPhilippi, which is a leading city of the district of  bMacedonia,  ca Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days.

13

And on  athe Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

First Convert in Europe

14

A woman named Lydia, from the city of  aThyatira, a seller of purple fabrics,  ba worshiper of God, was listening;  1and the Lord  copened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

15

And when she and  aher household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us.

16

It happened that as we were going to  athe place of prayer, a slave-girl having  ba spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

17

Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, "These men are bond-servants of  athe Most High God, who are proclaiming to you  1the way of salvation."

18

She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, "I command you  ain the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And it came out at that very  1moment.

19

But when her masters saw that their hope of  aprofit was  1gone, they seized  bPaul and Silas and  cdragged them into the market place before the authorities,

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and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, "These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews,

21

and  aare proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being  bRomans."

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

22

The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their  1robes off them and proceeded to order  2them to be  abeaten with rods.

23

When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding  athe jailer to guard them securely;

24

 1and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in  athe  2stocks.

25

But about midnight  aPaul and Silas were praying and  bsinging hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;

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and suddenly  athere came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately  ball the doors were opened and everyone's  cchains were unfastened.

27

When  athe jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about  bto kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

28

But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!"

29

And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before  aPaul and Silas,

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and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs,  awhat must I do to be saved?"

The Jailer Converted

31

They said, " aBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and  byour household."

32

And they spoke the word of  1the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.

33

And he took them  athat very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.

34

And he brought them into his house and set  1food before them, and rejoiced  2greatly, having believed in God with  ahis whole household.

35

Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, "Release those men."

36

And  athe jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, "The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go  bin peace."

37

But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us in public without trial,  amen who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out."

38

The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates.  aThey were afraid when they heard that they were Romans,

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and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them  ato leave the city.

40

They went out of the prison and entered the house of  aLydia, and when they saw  bthe brethren, they  1encouraged them and departed.



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:24:19 2007)

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