Timothy travels with Paul and Silas

16 Paul travelled to Derbe and then he arrived in Lystra. A man called Timothy lived in Lystra. He was a believer. His mother was a Jew who had become a believer in Jesus. But Timothy's father was a Gentile who came from Greece. ² All the believers in Lystra and Iconium said good things about Timothy. ³ Paul wanted Timothy to travel with him to different places. All the Jews in that region knew that Timothy's father was a Gentile. So Paul circumcised Timothy, so that the Jews would accept him.^[a]

⁴ Paul, Silas and Timothy travelled through many towns. In each place, they told the believers the things that the apostles and the other leaders in Jerusalem had decided. They told the believers to obey those rules. ⁵ In this way, the groups of believers in those towns became stronger. They trusted Jesus more. More and more people joined the groups of believers every day.

Paul has a vision

⁶ Paul and his friends wanted to go to the region of Asia to speak God's message. But the Holy Spirit stopped them from doing this. So they travelled through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia. ⁷ Then they arrived at the edge of the region of Mysia. They wanted to go from there into the region of Bithynia. But the Holy Spirit of Jesus stopped them from going there too. ⁸ So they went quickly through Mysia and they arrived at the city of Troas, on the coast.

⁹ During that night, Paul had a vision. In the vision, he saw a man from the region called Macedonia. The man stood there and he said to Paul, ‘Please, please come across the sea to Macedonia and help us.’ ¹⁰ After Paul's vision, we immediately prepared ourselves for the journey to Macedonia.^[b] We decided that God was telling us to go there. He wanted us to tell the people there the good news about Jesus.

Lydia becomes a believer

¹¹ We got in a ship at Troas and we sailed across the sea. We went across to an island called Samothrace. The next day, we continued our journey to a port called Neapolis. ¹² We then travelled across the land to Philippi, the most important city in the region of Macedonia. The Romans ruled Philippi and many Roman people lived there. We stayed there for a few days.

¹³ On the Jewish day of rest, we went out of the city gate. We went down to the edge of the river. We thought that the Jews might have a special meeting place there. We thought that they would meet there to pray. We found a group of women who were meeting there. So we sat down and we talked to them.^[c]

¹⁴ One of the women who listened to us was called Lydia. She was from the city of Thyatira. She bought and sold expensive dark red cloth. She was a Gentile woman who now worshipped God. The Lord helped her to understand Paul's message. So she believed the things that he said.

¹⁵ Then Paul and Silas baptized Lydia and the other people who lived in her house. After this, Lydia asked us to go to her house. She said to us, ‘If you think that I really believe in the Lord Jesus, then please stay in my house.’ We agreed to go and to stay there.

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. ²⁷ The prison guard woke up. He saw that the prison doors were open. He thought that all the people in the prison had become free. He decided that he should kill himself. So he pulled out his sword.^[d]

²⁸ Paul shouted very loudly to him, ‘Do not hurt yourself! We are all still in here!’

²⁹ The guard said, ‘Bring me some lights.’ Then he ran to the prison room where Paul and Silas were. He was very frightened. He went down on his knees in front of them. ³⁰ Then he led Paul and Silas out of the prison. He said to them, ‘Masters, what must I do so that God will save me? Tell me!’

³¹ Paul and Silas said to him, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and then God will save you. He will save you and the people who live in your house, if they believe too.’ ³² Then Paul and Silas went to the guard's house. They spoke God's message about the Lord Jesus to him and to all the people in his house. ³³ In the middle of the night, the man took care of them. He washed their bodies where the soldiers had hurt them. Immediately after this, Paul and Silas baptized the man and his whole family. ³⁴ The man gave them some food to eat in his house. The guard and all his family were very happy because now they believed in God.

³⁵ The next morning, the important officers sent their police to the prison with a message for the guard. They told him, ‘Let those men go free.’ ³⁶ The guard went to Paul and he told him, ‘The city officers have sent a message to me. They said, “Let Paul and Silas go free.” So now you can leave the prison. Nobody will hurt you any more.’

³⁷ But Paul spoke to the police who had brought the message. He said, ‘The city officers did not find that we had done anything wrong. But they commanded their soldiers to hit us with sticks in front of everybody. We are citizens of Rome but they still did this to us. They even put us into prison. Now they want us to leave the prison and go away. They want to send us away secretly. We will not agree! The Roman officers must come here to the prison themselves. Then they must lead us out for everyone to see.’

³⁸ The police returned to the city officers. They told them what Paul had said. The officers now understood that Paul and Silas were citizens of Rome. This made them very afraid. ³⁹ So they went to see Paul and Silas in the prison. They told Paul and Silas that they were very sorry. Then they led Paul and Silas out of the prison. They asked them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ After Paul and Silas left the prison, they went to Lydia's house. There they met the other believers. They spoke to the believers to make them strong. Then Paul and Silas left Philippi.^[e]