⁹ and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(A)to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: ¹⁰ If you will remain in this land, ^(B)then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; ^(C)for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. ^11 (D)Do not fear the king of Babylon, ^(E)of whom you are afraid. ^(F)Do not fear him, declares the Lord, ^(G)for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. ^12 (H)I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land.

Paul and Silas in Prison

¹⁶ As we were going to ^(A)the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had ^(B)a spirit of ^(C)divination and ^(D)brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and us, ^(E)crying out, “These men are ^(F)servants of ^(G)the Most High God, who proclaim to you ^(H)the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ^(I)“I command you ^(J)in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And ^(K)it came out that very hour.

¹⁹ But ^(L)when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and ^(M)dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. ²⁰ And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. ²¹ They ^(N)advocate customs that are not lawful for us ^(O)as Romans to accept or practice.”