Paul and Silas in Prison

16 Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.(A) She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you[a] a way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.” 18 She did this for many days.

Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 16:17 Other mss read us

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

16 And it happened that as[a] we were going to the place of prayer, a certain female slave who had a spirit of divination[b] met us, who was bringing a large profit to her owners by[c] fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us and[d] was crying out, saying, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!” 18 And she was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed and turning around, said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out immediately.[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 16:16 Here “as” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“were going”)
  2. Acts 16:16 Literally “a spirit of Python”; Python was the name of the serpent or dragon that guarded the Delphic oracle at the foot of Mt. Parnassus and the word eventually came to be used for a spirit of divination
  3. Acts 16:16 Here “by” is supplied as a component of the infinitive (“fortune-telling”) which is understood as means
  4. Acts 16:17 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“followed”) has been translated as a finite verb
  5. Acts 16:18 Literally “that same hour”