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went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was Greek. 2 The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him. 3 Paul wanted to take Timothy along on the journey, so he took 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 travelled from town to town, they delivered to them the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily.
6 Paul and his companions went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia and were prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in Asia. 7 When they came to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night a vision appeared to Paul of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we immediately started preparing to go to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
11 So we set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day we continued on to Neapolis. 12 From there we went to Philippi, a Roman colony, and a leading city of that district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for a number of days.
13 On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 A woman named Lydia was there listening . She was a seller of purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, and a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to the things spoken by Paul. 15 After she and her household were baptised, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
16 Once when we were on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large amount of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” 18 She kept doing this for many days, until Paul finally became greatly annoyed. Finally, he turned to the spirit and said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.
19 When the owners of the slave girl saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are seriously disturbing our city 21 and are advocating customs which are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in attacking Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered that they be stripped of their clothing and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely beaten, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer ordered to keep them securely guarded. 24 After having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Straight away all the prison doors opened and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought all the prisoners had fled. 28 But Paul shouted out, “Don’t harm yourself, because we are all here.”
29 So the jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others who were in the house. 33 At the same hour that night he took them out and washed their wounds; then he and all his family were immediately baptised. 34 The jailer then brought them into his house and set a meal before them; and he rejoiced, because he had come to believe in God along with his entire household.
35 When daylight came, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer to say, “Release those men.” 36 The jailer told Paul about the message, saying, “The magistrates have sent orders to release you and Silas. So come out now and go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publically without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now are they going to get rid of us quietly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”
38 The officers reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and apologised to them and escorted them from the prison. Then they asked them to leave the city. 40 So Paul and Silas left the prison and went to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers. Then they left.