Acts 16-18

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!”

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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!”

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

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

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.

1When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

2As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

3explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared.

4Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women.

5The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.

6But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,

7and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!”

8On hearing this, the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed.

9And they collected bond from Jason and the others and then released them.

10As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

11Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

12As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.

13But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds.

14The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.

15Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.

17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.

18Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

19So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, where they asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

20For you are bringing some strange notions to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”

21Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.

22Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.

23For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.

24The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.

25Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

26From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

27God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

28‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

29Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

30Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.

31For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

32When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.”

33At that, Paul left the Areopagus.

34But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.

1After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

2There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them,

3and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was.

4Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks alike.

5And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

6But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

7So Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titus Justus, a worshiper of God.

8Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his whole household believed in the Lord. And many of the Corinthians who heard the message believed and were baptized.

9One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking; do not be silent.

10For I am with you and no one will lay a hand on you, because I have many people in this city.”

11So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching the word of God among the Corinthians.

12While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews coordinated an attack on Paul and brought him before the judgment seat.

13“This man is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law,” they said.

14But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio told the Jews, “If this matter involved a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to hear your complaint.

15But since it is a dispute about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”

16And he drove them away from the judgment seat.

17At this, the crowd seized Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the judgment seat. But none of this was of concern to Gallio.

18Paul remained in Corinth for quite some time before saying goodbye to the brothers. He had his head shaved in Cenchrea to keep a vow he had made, and then he sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila.

19When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue there and reasoned with the Jews.

20When they asked him to stay for a while longer, he declined.

21But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you if God is willing.” And he set sail from Ephesus.

22When Paul had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem. Then he went down to Antioch.

23After Paul had spent some time in Antioch, he traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

24Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures.

25He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

26And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

27When Apollos resolved to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On his arrival, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

28For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.