Acts 16:16-34

New American Standard Bible 1995

¹⁶ It happened that as we were going to ^(A)the place of prayer, a slave-girl having ^(B)a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of ^(C)the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you ^[a]the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you ^(D)in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very ^[b]moment.

¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of ^(E)profit was ^[c]gone, they seized ^(F)Paul and Silas and ^(G)dragged them into the market place before the authorities, ²⁰ and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, ²¹ and ^(H)are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being ^(I)Romans.”

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

²² The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their ^[d]robes off them and proceeded to order ^[e]them to be ^(J)beaten with rods. ²³ When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding ^(K)the jailer to guard them securely; ^24 [f]and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in ^(L)the ^[g]stocks.

²⁵ But about midnight ^(M)Paul and Silas were praying and ^(N)singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; ²⁶ and suddenly ^(O)there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately ^(P)all the doors were opened and everyone’s ^(Q)chains were unfastened. ²⁷ When ^(R)the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about ^(S)to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” ²⁹ And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before ^(T)Paul and Silas, ³⁰ and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, ^(U)what must I do to be saved?”

The Jailer Converted

³¹ They said, “^(V)Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and ^(W)your household.” ³² And they spoke the word of ^[h]the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them ^(X)that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴ And he brought them into his house and set ^[i]food before them, and rejoiced ^[j]greatly, having believed in God with ^(Y)his whole household.