1He came to Derbe and Lystra. There was a disciple there named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek.
2The believers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.
3Paul wanted Timothy to go with him, so he circumcised him because of the Jews in the area, for they all knew that Timothy's father was Greek.
4As they went through the cities, they delivered the decisions that had been made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to follow.
5So the churches were strengthened in faith and grew in number every day.
6After they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit prevented them from speaking the message in Asia.
7When they came near Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them.
8So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.
9During the night, Paul had a vision. A man from Macedonia was standing there, begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
10As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we immediately prepared to go to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the good news to them.
11So, sailing from Troas, we went straight to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis;
12and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for several days.
13On the Sabbath day we went outside the city, by a river, where we thought there would be a place for prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.
14A woman named Lydia, a seller of expensive purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, was listening to us. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.
15After she and everyone in her household were baptized, she invited us, saying, "If you believe I am faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my house." She convinced us to do so.
16As we were going to prayer, we met a young girl who had a spirit that allowed her to predict the future. She earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes.
17She followed Paul and us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God! They are telling you how to be saved!"
18She did this for many days. But Paul became very annoyed, 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 that very moment.
19However, when her owners realized that their way of making money was gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.
20When they brought them to the city officials, they said, "These men, who are Jews, are causing trouble in our city!
21They are promoting customs that we Romans are not allowed to accept or practice."
22The crowd also turned against them, and the officials had their clothes torn off and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
23After they had been severely whipped, they threw them into prison and told the jailer to guard them securely.
24Because of this strict order, the jailer put them in the deepest part of the prison and clamped their feet in stocks.
25Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.
26Suddenly, there was a great earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison. Immediately, all the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains fell off.
27The jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open. Thinking the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself.
28But Paul shouted loudly, "Don't hurt yourself! We are all still here!"
29The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
30He led 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 everyone in your household."
32Then they 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. He and his entire household were immediately baptized.
34He brought them into his house, offered them food, and rejoiced greatly with his whole household because they had believed in God.
35When morning came, the city officials sent their officers with the message, "Release those men."
36The jailer told Paul, "The officials have sent word to let you go. So now you can leave and go in peace."
37But Paul said to the officers, "They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison! Now they want to release us secretly? No, absolutely not! They should come themselves and escort us out!"
38When the officers reported this to the city officials, they were alarmed to hear that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.
39So the officials came and apologized to them. They brought them out of the prison and asked them to leave the city.
40After leaving the prison, Paul and Silas went to Lydia’s house. They met with the believers there, encouraged them, and then left.