I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke. 2:19
Trivia: In Acts 19, what did the evil spirit say to the vagabond Jewish exorcists?
16:1-51 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
2 Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
When Paul and Silas came to Derbe and Lystra, there was a disciple named Timothy, whose mother was a Jewish Christian and whose father was a Greek.
3 Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.
4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.
Paul invited Timothy to go along with him and Silas.
But first, he circumcised him, [1]
because the local Jews knew his father was a Greek.
16:6-86 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
Paul, Silas, and Timothy went through Phrygia and Galatia,
but they were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach in Asia. [2]
7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
Then they wanted to go to Bithynia,
but the Spriit wouldn't let them. [3]
16:9-109 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
Paul had a vision one night of a man from Macedonia, [4]
who said to him,
Come to Macedonia and help us.
10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
After seeing the vision, we tried to go to Macedonia, [5]
since the Lord had called us to preach there.
16:11-1511Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis;
12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.
Then we went to Philippi in Macedonia,
and stayed there for a while.
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
On the sabbath we talked to the women that lived there.
14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
Among them was Lydia, a seller of purple. [6]
The Lord opened her heart when she heard Paul speak.
15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
And she was baptized, along with her household.
She asked us to stay with her for a while, and we did so.
16:16-1816 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
As we went to prayer, we met a slave girl possessed with the soothsaying spirit of divination, from which she made money for her masters.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
Paul said to the spirit that possessed her,
Come out of her in the name of Jesus Christ.
And he came out that same hour.
16:19-2419 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
The slave girl's masters were upset by the loss of income from her divination, so they complained to the officials.
22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
The officials tore the clothes of Paul and his companions,
and had them beaten.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
After they were beaten, they were thrown into prison with chains on their feet.
16:25-2725 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
At midnight, Paul and Silas prayed.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
And suddenly, there was a great earthquake, the prison doors opened, and the chains unlocked. [7]
16:27-4027 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
When the jailor found out, he was going to kill himself.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
But Paul cried out to him, saying,
Don't hurt yourself. We're here.
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
The jailor asked Paul and Silas,
What must I do to be saved? [8]
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
They said,
Believe in Jesus Christ and you and your family will be saved. [9]
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
And so the jailor and his family [10]
were baptized that same night.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go.
36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.
37 But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
38 And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans.
39 And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.
40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.
Paul circumcised Timothy, thereby making it impossible for him to be saved, according to his own words in Galatians 5:2.
Paul, Silas, and the newly circumcised Timothy were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach in Asia.
(God just doesn't like Asians, I guess.)
Then they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit wouldn't let them do that either. Shucks!
A man appears to Paul in a dream telling him to go to Macedonia. So Paul, who was a big believer in dreams, did as the dream-man requested.
All of a sudden, the tense changes from third person to first person plural. It's unclear who the "we" refers to.
For other "we passages" see 20:5-15, 21:1-18, and 27:1-28:16.
Another Holy Prison Break! (See 12:6-19 for the first one.)
Paul and Silas were rescued by an earthquake that opened all the doors of the prison.
If you "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," then you and your whole family will be saved; otherwise, God will send you all to hell. But in Matthew (19:17), when Jesus was asked the same question, he gave an entirely different answer.
If a husband believes, his whole family is automatically saved.
The jailer was so impressed with the holy jailbreak that he converted on the spot. He and his entire family were baptized that night. It didn't matter to Paul (or God) what the jailer's wife and kids thought about it. They were "his" so he could do whatever the hell he wanted with (or to) them. (This stupid story supports the idea of infant baptism, which has divided Christians for centuries.)
Christian Response
