¹He also came to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy was there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but whose father was a Greek. ²The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.³Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was Greek. ⁴As they went through the towns, they passed on the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the Gentile believers to obey. ⁵So the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number every day. ⁶They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in the province of Asia. ⁷When they came to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this,⁸so they passed through Mysia and went down to Troas. ⁹A vision appeared to Paul during the night: A Macedonian man was standing there urging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” ¹⁰After Paul saw the vision, we attempted immediately to go over to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. ¹¹We put out to sea from Troas and sailed a straight course to Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis, ¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of that district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for some days. ¹³On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the side of the river, where we thought there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down and began to speak to the women who had assembled there.¹⁴A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, a God-fearing woman, listened to us. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. ¹⁵After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me to be a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house.” And she persuaded us. ¹⁶Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁷She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” ¹⁸She continued to do this for many days. But Paul became greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out of her at once. ¹⁹But when her owners saw their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. ²⁰When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion. They are Jews ²¹and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans.” ²²The crowd joined the attack against them, and the magistrates tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be beaten with rods. ²³After they had beaten them severely, they threw them into prison and commanded the jailer to guard them securely. ²⁴Receiving such orders, he threw 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 rest of the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds of all the prisoners came loose. ²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he assumed the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul called out loudly, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” ²⁹Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell down trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he brought them outside 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 they spoke the word of the Lord to him, along with all those who were in his house. ³³At that hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized right away. ³⁴The jailer brought them into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced greatly that he had come to believe in God, together with his entire household. ³⁵At daybreak the magistrates sent their police officers, saying, “Release those men.” ³⁶The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent orders to release you. So come out now and go in peace.” ³⁷But Paul said to the police officers, “They had us beaten in public without a proper trial—even though we are Roman citizens—and they threw us in prison. And now they want to send us away secretly? Absolutely not! They themselves must come and escort us out!” ³⁸The police officers reported these words to the magistrates. They were frightened when they heard Paul and Silas were Roman citizens ³⁹and came and apologized to them. After they brought them out, they asked them repeatedly to leave the city. ⁴⁰When they came out of the prison, they entered Lydia’s house, and when they saw the brothers, they encouraged them and then departed.