³⁷ But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens,^(A) and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

²⁵ As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”^(A)

²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷ The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

²⁸ Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

²⁹ Those who were about to interrogate him^(B) withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen,^(C) in chains.^(D)

²⁰ They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar^{(A) 21} by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans^(B) to accept or practice.”^(C)

²² The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.^{(D) 23} After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer^(E) 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.^(F)

¹⁶ “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.^(A) Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.^(B)

¹⁸ Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating^(A) and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.^(B)

¹⁹ At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den.

²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

²⁶ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God,^(A) come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire,

Psalm 82

A psalm of Asaph.