Acts 16:1-15

New King James Version

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16 Then he came to ^(A)Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, ^(B)named Timothy, ^(C)the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. ² He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. ³ Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he ^(D)took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. ⁴ And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the ^(E)decrees to keep, ^(F)which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. ^5 (G)So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

The Macedonian Call

⁶ Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of ^(H)Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in ^[a]Asia. ⁷ After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the ^[b]Spirit did not permit them. ⁸ So passing by Mysia, they ^(I)came down to Troas. ⁹ And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A ^(J)man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go ^(K)to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Lydia Baptized at Philippi

¹¹ Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, ¹² and from there to ^(L)Philippi, which is the ^[c]foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. ¹³ And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. ¹⁴ Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of ^(M)Thyatira, who worshiped God. ^(N)The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. ¹⁵ And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So ^(O)she persuaded us.