Font Size
Acts 16:16-26
New King James Version
Acts 16:16-26
New King James Version
Paul and Silas Imprisoned
16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl (A)possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters (B)much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days.
But Paul, (C)greatly [a]annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” (D)And he came out that very hour. 19 But (E)when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and (F)dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
20 And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, (G)exceedingly trouble our city; 21 and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” 22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes (H)and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
The Philippian Jailer Saved
25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 (I)Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately (J)all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Acts 16:18 distressed
Acts 16:16-26
King James Version
Acts 16:16-26
King James Version
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
Read full chapter
Acts 16:16-26
EasyEnglish Bible
Acts 16:16-26
EasyEnglish Bible
The Roman rulers put Paul and Silas in prison
16 One day, we were going to the place where people prayed to God. On the way there, we met a slave girl. A bad spirit was living inside her. This spirit told her what would happen soon. People gave her masters a lot of money when she told them about these future things. 17 She followed Paul and all of us. She was shouting, ‘These men are servants of the powerful God who is over all! They are telling you how God can save you!’
18 The slave girl continued to do this for many days. After some time, Paul became angry. So he turned round and he said to the bad spirit, ‘I am using the authority of Jesus Christ! I command you to leave this woman!’ When Paul said that, the spirit left her immediately.
19 Her masters now knew that the girl could not get money for them any more. So they took hold of Paul and Silas and they pulled them to the market place of the city. They took them to stand in front of the leaders of the city. 20 They asked the important officers to judge them. They said, ‘These men are Jews. They are causing much trouble in our city. 21 They are teaching people to obey strange ideas. We are Roman people. We cannot agree with these laws. They are not right for us to do.’
22 A lot of people quickly came together there. They started to attack Paul and Silas. So the important officers said to their soldiers, ‘Tear the clothes off Paul and Silas. Then hit them with sticks!’ 23 The soldiers hit Paul and Silas many times. Then they took hold of them and they pushed them into the prison. The officers said to the prison guard, ‘Lock the prison door carefully so that these men cannot get free.’
24 The prison guard did what he had been told to do. He put Paul and Silas in a room in the middle of the prison. He put their feet between big heavy pieces of wood so that they could not move their legs.
25 At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying. They were also singing songs to praise God. The other people in the prison were listening to them. 26 The ground under the prison suddenly shook strongly. Immediately, all the prison doors opened. The chains that held the people in the prison all fell off.
Read full chapter
Acts 16:16-26
New International Version
Acts 16:16-26
New International Version
Paul and Silas in Prison
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer,(A) we were met by a female slave who had a spirit(B) by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God,(C) who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.(D)
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money(E) was gone, they seized Paul and Silas(F) and dragged(G) them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar(H) 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans(I) to accept or practice.”(J)
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.(K) 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer(L) was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.(M)
25 About midnight(N) Paul and Silas(O) were praying and singing hymns(P) to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.(Q) At once all the prison doors flew open,(R) and everyone’s chains came loose.(S)
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.