1 Then came he to Derbe and to Lystra: and beholde, a certaine disciple was there named Timotheus, a womans sonne, which was a Iewesse and beleeued, but his father was a Grecian, 2 Of whom the brethren which were at Lystra and Iconium, reported well. 3 Therefore Paul would that he should go forth with him, and tooke and circumcised him, because of ye Iewes, which were in those quarters: for they knewe all, that his father was a Grecian. 4 And as they went through the cities, they deliuered them the decrees to keepe, ordeined of the Apostles and Elders, which were at Hierusalem. 5 And so were the Churches stablished in the faith, and encreased in number daily. 6 Nowe when they had gone throughout Phrygia, and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden of the holy Ghost to preache the worde in Asia. 7 Then came they to Mysia, and sought to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. 8 Therefore they passed through Mysia, and came downe to Troas, 9 Where a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stoode a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come into Macedonia, and helpe vs. 10 And after he had seene the vision, immediatly we prepared to goe into Macedonia, being assured that the Lord had called vs to preache the Gospel vnto them. 11 Then went we forth from Troas, and with a straight course came to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis, 12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chiefe citie in ye partes of Macedonia, and whose inhabitants came from Rome to dwell there, and we were in that citie abiding certaine dayes. 13 And on the Sabbath day, we went out of the citie, besides a Riuer, where they were wont to pray: and we sate downe, and spake vnto the women, which were come together. 14 And a certaine woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the citie of the Thyatirians, which worshipped God, heard vs: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended vnto the things, which Paul spake. 15 And when she was baptized, and her houshold, she besought vs, saying, If ye haue iudged me to be faithfull to ye Lord, come into mine house, and abide there: and she constrained vs. 16 And it came to passe that as we went to prayer, a certaine maide hauing a spirit of diuination, mette vs, which gate her masters much vantage with diuining. 17 She followed Paul and vs, and cryed, saying, These men are the seruants of the most high God, which shewe vnto you the way of saluation. 18 And this did she many dayes: but Paul being grieued, turned about, and said to the spirit, I commaund thee in the Name of Iesus Christ, that thou come out of her. And he came out the same houre. 19 Nowe when her masters sawe that the hope of their gaine was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drewe them into the market place vnto the Magistrates, 20 And brought them to the gouernours, saying, These men which are Iewes, trouble our citie, 21 And preache ordinances, which are not lawfull for vs to receiue, neither to obserue, seeing we are Romanes. 22 The people also rose vp together against them, and the gouernours rent their clothes, and commanded them to be beaten with roddes. 23 And when they had beaten them sore, they cast them into prison, commaunding the Iayler to keepe them surely. 24 Who hauing receiued such commandement, cast them into the inner prison, and made their feete fast in the stockes. 25 Nowe at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sung Psalmes vnto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundation of the prison was shaken: and by and by all the doores opened, and euery mans bands were loosed. 27 Then the keeper of the prison waked out of his sleepe, and when he sawe the prison doores open, he drewe out his sword and would haue killed himselfe, supposing the prisoners had bin fled. 28 But Paul cryed with a loude voyce, saying, Doe thy selfe no harme: for we are all here. 29 Then he called for a light, and leaped in, and came trembling, and fell downe before Paul and Silas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Syrs, what must I doe to be saued? 31 And they saide, Beleeue in the Lord Iesus Christ, and thou shalt be saued, and thine houshold. 32 And they preached vnto him the worde of the Lord, and to all that were in the house. 33 Afterwarde he tooke them the same houre of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized with all that belonged vnto him, straigthway. 34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meate before them, and reioyced that he with all his houshold beleeued in God. 35 And when it was day, the gouernours sent the sergeants, saying, Let those men goe. 36 Then the keeper of the prison tolde these woordes vnto Paul, saying, The gouerness haue sent to loose you: nowe therefore get you hence, and goe in peace. 37 Then sayde Paul vnto them, After that they haue beaten vs openly vncodemned, which are Romanes, they haue cast vs into prison, and nowe would they put vs out priuily? nay verely: but let them come and bring vs out. 38 And the sergeants tolde these woordes vnto the gouernours, who feared whe they heard that they were Romanes. 39 Then came they and praied them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the citie. 40 And they went out of the prison, and entred into the house of Lydia: and when they had seene the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.
Timothy Goes with Paul and Silas
1 Paul traveled on to Derbe and Lystra, where a Christian named Timothy lived. His mother, who was also a Christian, was Jewish, but his father was a Greek. 2 All the believers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy. 3 Paul wanted to take Timothy along with him, so he circumcised him. He did so because all the Jews who lived in those places knew that Timothy's father was Greek. 4 As they went through the towns, they delivered to the believers the rules decided upon by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, and they told them to obey those rules. 5 So the churches were made stronger in the faith and grew in numbers every day.
In Troas: Paul's Vision
6 They traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit did not let them preach the message in the province of Asia. 7 When they reached the border of Mysia, they tried to go into the province of Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So they traveled right on through Mysia and went to Troas. 9 That night Paul had a vision in which he saw a Macedonian standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 As soon as Paul had this vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, because we decided that God had called us to preach the Good News to the people there.
In Philippi: the Conversion of Lydia
11 We left by ship from Troas and sailed straight across to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis. 12 From there we went inland to Philippi, a city of the first district of Macedonia; it is also a Roman colony. We spent several days there. 13 On the Sabbath we went out of the city to the riverside, where we thought there would be a place where Jews gathered for prayer. We sat down and talked to the women who gathered there. 14 One of those who heard us was Lydia from Thyatira, who was a dealer in purple cloth. She was a woman who worshiped God, and the Lord opened her mind to pay attention to what Paul was saying. 15 After she and the people of her house had been baptized, she invited us, “Come and stay in my house if you have decided that I am a true believer in the Lord.” And she persuaded us to go.
In Prison at Philippi
16 One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a young servant woman who had an evil spirit that enabled her to predict the future. She earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes. 17 She followed Paul and us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God! They announce to you how you can be saved!” 18 She did this for many days, until Paul became so upset that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her!” The spirit went out of her that very moment. 19 When her owners realized that their chance of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the authorities in the public square. 20 They brought them before the Roman officials and said, “These men are Jews, and they are causing trouble in our city. 21 They are teaching customs that are against our law; we are Roman citizens, and we cannot accept these customs or practice them.” 22 And the crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas.
Then the officials tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be whipped. 23 After a severe beating, they were thrown into jail, and the jailer was ordered to lock them up tight. 24 Upon receiving this order, the jailer threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet between heavy blocks of wood.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, which shook the prison to its foundations. At once all the doors opened, and the chains fell off all the prisoners. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he thought that the prisoners had escaped; so he pulled out his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted at the top of his voice, “Don't harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for a light, rushed in, and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. 30 Then he led them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your family.” 32 Then they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in the house. 33 At that very hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; and he and all his family were baptized at once. 34 Then he took Paul and Silas up into his house and gave them some food to eat. He and his family were filled with joy, because they now believed in God.
35 The next morning the Roman authorities sent police officers with the order, “Let those men go.”
36 So the jailer told Paul, “The officials have sent an order for you and Silas to be released. You may leave, then, and go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to the police officers, “We were not found guilty of any crime, yet they whipped us in public—and we are Roman citizens! Then they threw us in prison. And now they want to send us away secretly? Not at all! The Roman officials themselves must come here and let us out.”
38 The police officers reported these words to the Roman officials; and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were afraid. 39 So they went and apologized to them; then they led them out of the prison and asked them to leave the city. 40 Paul and Silas left the prison and went to Lydia's house. There they met the believers, spoke words of encouragement to them, and left.