Acts 16

This part isn't retold as its own scene.

Paul and Silas had a plan. They would go into the province of Asia, in what is now western Turkey, and tell people about Jesus. But the Holy Spirit stopped them.

So they tried to go north instead. Again, "the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them" (16:7). The Bible doesn't say how the Spirit stopped them.

They ended up in Troas, a port city by the sea.

That night, Paul had a vision. A vision is something God lets a person see that others usually cannot see. Paul saw a man from Macedonia, across the sea in northern Greece. The man was pleading with him: "Come over to Macedonia and help us" (16:9).

Right away, they got ready to go. They were sure God had called them to tell the good news there.

Notice the word "we" in verse 10. The writer starts telling the story as someone who was there. Many Christians believe the writer was Luke.

They sailed from Troas, stopped at an island, and landed at a port town the next day. From there they walked inland to Philippi.

Philippi was a Roman colony, a city of Roman citizens far from Rome. It was the leading city in that part of Macedonia. They stayed there several days.

On the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest, they went outside the city gate to a river. They expected to find a place of prayer there. They sat down and spoke with the women who had gathered.

One of the women was named Lydia. She sold purple cloth, and she came from Thyatira, a city across the sea. Most likely she was not Jewish, but she worshiped Israel's God.

"The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message" (16:14). Notice who opened her heart. It was the Lord.

Lydia and her household were baptized. Then she invited Paul and his friends to stay at her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house" (16:15). She urged them, and they agreed.

One day, on the way to the place of prayer, they met a slave girl. The Bible says she had "a spirit of divination" (16:16). Divination means telling the future.

Her owners made a lot of money from her fortune-telling.

The girl began following Paul and the others. She kept shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!" (16:17).

What she shouted was true. But she kept it up for many days.

At last Paul was so upset that he turned around. He spoke to the spirit, not to the girl. "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" (16:18). The spirit left her at that very moment.

The Bible doesn't say why Paul waited so long, or what happened to the girl afterward.

The girl's owners saw that their money was gone. They grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them to the marketplace, where the city officials were.

The owners said nothing about the girl, and nothing about the money. They said, "These men are Jews and are throwing our city into turmoil" (16:20). Turmoil means trouble and confusion.

They said Paul and Silas were teaching customs that Romans weren't allowed to follow.

The crowd joined in. The officials had Paul and Silas stripped and beaten with rods.

After many blows, Paul and Silas were thrown into prison. The officials told the jailer to guard them carefully.

So the jailer put them in the inner cell, the deepest part of the prison. He locked their feet in the stocks. Stocks are heavy wooden blocks with holes that hold a prisoner's feet so they can't move.

It was about midnight. Paul and Silas were hurt and locked in the dark. "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them" (16:25).

Suddenly a strong earthquake shook the prison, right down to its foundations. All at once, every door flew open. Everyone's chains came loose.

The jailer woke up. He saw the prison doors standing open. He thought the prisoners had escaped.

He drew his sword. He was about to kill himself.

Acts gives the reason: he thought the prisoners were gone. Remember what that could mean. In Acts 12, King Herod had guards executed after a prisoner escaped (12:19). One likely reason for what he did: the jailer expected to die for this anyway.

Then Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself! We are all here!" (16:28).

Paul had been beaten, then locked in this man's stocks. And the first thing Paul did was stop him from hurting himself.

The jailer called for lights. He rushed in and fell down, trembling, in front of Paul and Silas.

Then he brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (16:30).

They answered, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household" (16:31).

Then Paul and Silas told the good news about Jesus to him and to everyone in his house.

At that same hour of the night, the jailer washed their wounds. The man who had locked them up now cared for them.

Right away, he and his whole household were baptized.

Then he brought them into his home and set a meal in front of them. He and his whole household were full of joy, because they had come to believe in God.

In the morning, the officials sent officers with an order: "Release those men" (16:35).

The jailer told Paul the good news. They could leave, and go in peace.

But Paul told the officers no. The officials had beaten Paul and Silas in public, without a trial. They had thrown them in prison. And Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. Now the officials wanted to send them away secretly? "Absolutely not! Let them come themselves and escort us out!" (16:37).

The officers told the officials. The officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

So they came in person. They tried to calm Paul and Silas down. They led them out of the prison and asked them to leave the city.

Paul and Silas went back to Lydia's house. There they met with the believers and encouraged them. Then they left Philippi.

When Paul and Silas arrived, Acts names no believers in Philippi. Now there were brothers and sisters meeting in Lydia's home, and a jailer's family who believed.