使徒行传 16
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
提摩太加入福音事工
16 保罗来到特庇，然后又到路司得。那里有个门徒名叫提摩太，母亲是信主的犹太人，父亲是希腊人。 2 路司得和以哥念的弟兄姊妹都称赞提摩太。 3 保罗打算带提摩太去传福音。因为当地的犹太人都知道提摩太的父亲是希腊人，保罗就给提摩太行了割礼。 4 他们走遍各城，把耶路撒冷的使徒和长老所定下的规条教导当地的门徒遵守。 5 这样，众教会在信仰上得到坚固，人数天天都在增加。
马其顿人的呼求
6 由于圣灵阻止他们到亚细亚传福音，他们便经过弗吕迦和加拉太地区， 7 来到每西亚的边界，正要进入庇推尼地区，耶稣的灵又加以拦阻。 8 他们就越过每西亚，下到特罗亚。 9 当天晚上，保罗在异象中看见一个马其顿人站在那里恳求他：“请到马其顿来帮助我们！”
10 保罗见了这个异象，确信是上帝呼召我们[a]到马其顿去传福音，就立刻准备动身。 11 我们从特罗亚启航，直接驶往撒摩特喇，第二天抵达尼亚坡里， 12 再从那里来到腓立比。腓立比是马其顿的主要城市，是罗马帝国的殖民地。我们在那里住了几天。 13 安息日那天，我们到城外的河边，知道那里有一个祷告的地方，就坐下来，向已经聚集的妇女讲道。 14 听众中有个卖紫色布匹的妇人名叫吕底亚，是推雅推喇城的人，向来敬拜上帝。上帝开启她的心，她便留心听保罗讲道。 15 吕底亚和家人接受洗礼之后，极力邀请我们，说：“如果你们认为我是真心信主的话，请来我家住。”于是强留我们住下。
保罗和西拉入狱
16 一天，我们又去河边那个祷告的地方，途中遇到一个被巫鬼附身的女奴。她用占卜为她的主人们赚了不少钱。 17 她跟着保罗和我们大喊大叫：“这些人是至高上帝的奴仆，是来向你们宣讲得救之道的。” 18 一连几天，她都这样喊叫。保罗不胜其烦，就转过身来斥责那鬼：“我奉耶稣基督的名命令你从她身上出来！”那鬼立刻从她身上出去了。
19 她的主人们眼见财路断绝了，就把保罗和西拉揪住，拖到广场去见官长。 20 他们在官长面前控告保罗和西拉，说：“这些是犹太人，竟扰乱我们的城市， 21 宣扬我们罗马人不可接受或实行的风俗。” 22 于是，大家都一起攻击他们，官长下令剥掉他们的衣服，杖打他们。 23 他们被毒打一顿，又被关进监狱，官长命狱卒严密看守。 24 狱卒接到命令后把他们关进内牢，双脚上了枷锁。
25 半夜，保罗和西拉祷告、唱诗赞美上帝，其他的囚犯都侧耳倾听。 26 突然间发生大地震，整座监狱的地基都摇动起来，牢门立刻全开了，囚犯的锁链也都松开了。 27 狱卒惊醒后，看见牢门尽开，以为囚犯已经逃走了，就想拔刀自杀。 28 保罗见状，大声喝止：“不要伤害自己，我们都在这里！”
29 狱卒叫人拿灯过来，冲进内牢，战战兢兢地俯伏在保罗和西拉面前。 30 狱卒领他们出来后问道：“两位先生，我该怎样做才能得救？”
31 他们说：“要信主耶稣，你和你一家就必定得救。” 32 于是保罗和西拉向狱卒和他全家传讲主的道。 33 当晚，狱卒把二人带去，为他们清洗伤口。他一家老小都接受了洗礼。 34 他请二人到家里吃饭，他和全家人充满了喜乐，因为都信了上帝。
35 第二天早上，官长派差役来，说：“把他们放了。” 36 狱卒转告保罗说：“官长下令释放你们，现在你们可以平安地走了。” 37 保罗却说：“我们是罗马公民，他们不经审讯就当众打我们，又把我们关进牢里，现在却想偷偷打发掉我们吗？这样不行，叫他们亲自来领我们出去！”
38 差役回报官长。官长得知保罗和西拉都是罗马公民，非常害怕， 39 连忙到狱中向他们道歉，领他们出监，又央求他们离开腓立比。 40 二人离开监狱，来到吕底亚家中，见了弟兄姊妹，劝勉一番之后，便离开了那里。
Footnotes
- 16:10 本书作者路加此时加入保罗的行列，故改用第一人称复数“我们”。
Acts 16
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 16
Paul in Lycaonia: Timothy. 1 He reached [also] Derbe and Lystra where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.(A) 2 The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him,(B) 3 and Paul wanted him to come along with him. On account of the Jews of that region, Paul had him circumcised,[a] for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from city to city, they handed on to the people for observance the decisions reached by the apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem. 5 Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number.
Through Asia Minor. 6 They traveled through the Phrygian and Galatian territory because they had been prevented by the holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus[b] did not allow them, 8 so they crossed through Mysia and came down to Troas. 9 During [the] night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and implored him with these words, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 When he had seen the vision, we[c] sought passage to Macedonia at once, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
Into Europe. 11 [d]We set sail from Troas, making a straight run for Samothrace, and on the next day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, a leading city in that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We spent some time in that city. 13 On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer. We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there. 14 One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God,[e] listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. 15 After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us.
Imprisonment at Philippi. 16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl with an oracular spirit,[f] who used to bring a large profit to her owners through her fortune-telling. 17 She began to follow Paul and us, shouting, “These people are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” 18 She did this for many days. Paul became annoyed, turned, and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” Then it came out at that moment.
19 When her owners saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the public square before the local authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates[g] and said, “These people are Jews and are disturbing our city 21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us Romans to adopt or practice.” 22 (C)The crowd joined in the attack on them, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely. 24 When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake.
Deliverance from Prison. 25 About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, 26 there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew [his] sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.” 29 He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.” 32 So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. 33 He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once. 34 He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.
35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the lictors[h] with the order, “Release those men.” 36 The jailer reported the[se] words to Paul, “The magistrates have sent orders that you be released. Now, then, come out and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, even though we are Roman citizens and have not been tried, and have thrown us into prison.(D) And now, are they going to release us secretly? By no means. Let them come themselves and lead us out.”[i] 38 The lictors reported these words to the magistrates, and they became alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens.(E) 39 So they came and placated them, and led them out and asked that they leave the city. 40 When they had come out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house where they saw and encouraged the brothers, and then they left.
Footnotes
- 16:3 Paul had him circumcised: he did this in order that Timothy might be able to associate with the Jews and so perform a ministry among them. Paul did not object to the Jewish Christians’ adherence to the law. But he insisted that the law could not be imposed on the Gentiles. Paul himself lived in accordance with the law, or as exempt from the law, according to particular circumstances (see 1 Cor 9:19–23).
- 16:7 The Spirit of Jesus: this is an unusual formulation in Luke’s writings. The parallelism with Acts 16:6 indicates its meaning, the holy Spirit.
- 16:10–17 This is the first of the so-called “we-sections” in Acts, where Luke writes as one of Paul’s companions. The other passages are Acts 20:5–15; 21:1–18; 27:1–28:16. Scholars debate whether Luke may not have used the first person plural simply as a literary device to lend color to the narrative. The realism of the narrative, however, lends weight to the argument that the “we” includes Luke or another companion of Paul whose data Luke used as a source.
- 16:11–40 The church at Philippi became a flourishing community to which Paul addressed one of his letters (see Introduction to the Letter to the Philippians).
- 16:14 A worshiper of God: a “God-fearer.” See note on Acts 8:26–40.
- 16:16 With an oracular spirit: literally, “with a Python spirit.” The Python was the serpent or dragon that guarded the Delphic oracle. It later came to designate a “spirit that pronounced oracles” and also a ventriloquist who, it was thought, had such a spirit in the belly.
- 16:20 Magistrates: in Greek, stratēgoi, the popular designation of the duoviri, the highest officials of the Roman colony of Philippi.
- 16:35 The lictors: the equivalent of police officers, among whose duties were the apprehension and punishment of criminals.
- 16:37 Paul’s Roman citizenship granted him special privileges in regard to criminal process. Roman law forbade under severe penalty the beating of Roman citizens (see also Acts 22:25).
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