¹⁹ When her owners realized that their hope of making money from her was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. ²⁰ They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are causing a disturbance in our city. They are Jews, ²¹ and they are advocating practices that it is illegal for us as Romans to adopt or follow.”

²² The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten. ²³ After they had inflicted a severe beating on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them closely. ²⁴ Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and locked their feet in the stocks.

²⁵ Paul Set Free. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly, there was such a huge earthquake that the very foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, all the doors flew open, and everyone’s chains were loosened.