Atlas Biblica

    Acts · 40 verses

    Acts 16

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    The chapter

    What happens here

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    The earthquake opens every prison door and loosens every chain, but the prisoners apparently stay put: the jailer reaches for his sword, and Paul has to call out that everyone is still there.

    A road that keeps refusing the obvious directionvv. 1–12

    Paul gathers Timothy at Lystra, where the young disciple is well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium. Timothy’s father is Greek, and Paul circumcises him before taking him along, while the decisions from Jerusalem travel from town to town and the churches grow stronger. Then the journey becomes a series of divine refusals: Asia is closed, Bithynia is closed, Mysia is passed by, and Troas becomes the place from which a Macedonian man appears in a night vision, pleading for help. The party sails through Samothrace and Neapolis to Philippi, the leading city of that district—a remarkably long way round to arrive at the next scene.

    A welcome, and an unwanted advertisementvv. 13–18

    Outside Philippi, by the river, Paul speaks with women gathered for prayer. Lydia of Thyatira listens, is baptized with her household, and persuades the company to stay at her house. Soon a slave girl follows Paul and the others, crying out an accurate advertisement of their work. It goes on for many days, until Paul, thoroughly aggravated, commands the spirit to leave her—and it does, at once. The message was sound; the speaker was inconveniently attached to someone else’s income.

    The prison doors open, and the paperwork becomes interestingvv. 19–40

    The girl’s owners lose their hope of making money, so Paul and Silas are dragged before the magistrates, beaten, and put in the inner cell with their feet in stocks. At midnight they pray and sing while the other prisoners listen. Then the earthquake arrives with exemplary thoroughness: doors fly open and chains come loose, yet nobody appears to leave. The jailer, seeing the open prison, is about to kill himself until Paul shouts that they are all there. The jailer washes their wounds, feeds them, and is baptized with his household. In the morning the magistrates send word for a quiet release, but Paul declines the quiet part, pointing out that Roman citizens were beaten publicly without trial. The magistrates, alarmed, come in person to appease them and lead them out. Paul and Silas then visit Lydia’s house, encourage the brothers, and leave Philippi.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Acts 16:1Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where he found a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman and a Greek father.

    2. Acts 16:2The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.

    3. Acts 16:3Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, so he took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

    4. Acts 16:4As they went from town to town, they delivered the decisions handed down by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey.

    5. Acts 16:5So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

    6. Acts 16:6After the Holy Spirit had prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, they traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.

    7. Acts 16:7And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them.

    8. Acts 16:8So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.

    9. Acts 16:9During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

    10. Acts 16:10As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

    11. Acts 16:11We sailed from Troas straight to Samothrace, and the following day on to Neapolis.

    12. Acts 16:12From there we went to the Roman colony of Philippi, the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

    13. Acts 16:13On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river, where it was customary to find a place of prayer. After sitting down, we spoke to the women who had gathered there.

    14. Acts 16:14Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

    15. Acts 16:15And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

    16. Acts 16:16One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.

    17. Acts 16:17This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!”

    18. Acts 16:18She continued this for many days. Eventually Paul grew so aggravated that he turned and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” And the spirit left her at that very moment.

    19. Acts 16:19When the girl’s owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the marketplace.

    20. Acts 16:20They brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into turmoil

    21. Acts 16:21by promoting customs that are unlawful for us Romans to adopt or practice.”

    22. Acts 16:22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered that they be stripped and beaten with rods.

    23. Acts 16:23And after striking them with many blows, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to guard them securely.

    24. Acts 16:24On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

    25. Acts 16:25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

    26. Acts 16:26Suddenly a strong earthquake shook the foundations of the prison. At once all the doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose.

    27. Acts 16:27When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, presuming that the prisoners had escaped.

    28. Acts 16:28But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself! We are all here!”

    29. Acts 16:29Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.

    30. Acts 16:30Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

    31. Acts 16:31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”

    32. Acts 16:32Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.

    33. Acts 16:33At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized.

    34. Acts 16:34Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.

    35. Acts 16:35When daylight came, the magistrates sent their officers with the order: “Release those men.”

    36. Acts 16:36The jailer informed Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders to release you. Now you may go on your way in peace.”

    37. Acts 16:37But Paul said to the officers, “They beat us publicly without a trial and threw us into prison, even though we are Roman citizens. And now do they want to send us away secretly? Absolutely not! Let them come themselves and escort us out!”

    38. Acts 16:38So the officers relayed this message to the magistrates, who were alarmed to hear that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

    39. Acts 16:39They came to appease them and led them out, requesting that they leave the city.

    40. Acts 16:40After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house to see the brothers and encourage them. Then they left the city.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 557 passages were voted onto 40 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 251 Thessalonians 5:16–18Rejoice at all times.
    • 31John 1:12But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—
    • 31John 3:36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
    • 31Acts 2:38–39Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
    • 31Romans 10:9–10that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
    • 25Psalms 119:62At midnight I rise to give You thanks for Your righteous judgments.
    • 25James 1:2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,
    • 14Luke 24:45Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
    • 31Acts 11:13–14He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.
    • 251 Peter 1:6–8In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials
    • 25Romans 5:3Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
    • 14Ephesians 1:17–18that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.
    • 25Philippians 4:4–7Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
    • 31Mark 16:16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
    • 14Isaiah 50:5The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back.
    • 14John 6:44–45“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

    Onward

    Keep reading

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