Memorial Stones from Jordan

4 Now when all the nation had finished crossing the ^(A)Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, ² “^(B)Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, ³ and command them, saying, ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them over with you and lay them down in ^(C)the lodging place where you will lodge tonight.’” ⁴ So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; ⁵ and Joshua said to them, “^[a]Cross again to the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ^6 [b]Let this be a sign among you, so that ^(D)when your children ask ^[c]later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the ^(E)waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a ^(F)memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”

⁸ Thus the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as the Lord spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel; and they carried them over with them to ^(G)the lodging place and put them down there. ⁹ Then Joshua set up twelve ^(H)stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day. ¹⁰ For the priests who carried the ark were standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was completed that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hurried and crossed; ¹¹ and when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed before the people. ^12 (I)The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over in battle array before the sons of Israel, just as Moses had spoken to them; ¹³ about 40,000 equipped for war, crossed for battle before the Lord to the desert plains of Jericho.

^14 (J)On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so that they ^[d]revered him, just as they had ^[e]revered Moses all the days of his life.

¹⁵ Now the Lord said to ^[f]Joshua, ¹⁶ “Command the priests who carry ^(K)the ark of the testimony that they come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁸ It came about when the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were ^[g]lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks as before.

¹⁹ Now the people came up from the Jordan on the ^(L)tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho. ^20 [h](M)Those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up ^(N)at Gilgal. ²¹ He said to the sons of ^[i]Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ ²² then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on ^(O)dry ground.’ ²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to the ^[j]Red Sea, ^(P)which He dried up before us until we had crossed; ²⁴ that ^(Q)all the peoples of the earth may know that the ^(R)hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may ^[k](S)fear the Lord your God ^[l]forever.”

The Macedonian Vision

16 Paul came also to ^(A)Derbe and to ^(B)Lystra. And a disciple was there, named ^(C)Timothy, the son of a ^(D)Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, ² and he was well spoken of by ^(E)the brethren who were in ^(F)Lystra and ^(G)Iconium. ³ Paul wanted this man to ^[a]go with him; and he ^(H)took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering ^(I)the decrees which had been decided upon by ^(J)the apostles and ^(K)elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe. ⁵ So ^(L)the churches were being strengthened ^[b]in the faith, and were ^(M)increasing in number daily.

⁶ They passed through the ^[c](N)Phrygian and ^(O)Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in ^[d](P)Asia; ⁷ and after they came to ^(Q)Mysia, they were trying to go into ^(R)Bithynia, and the ^(S)Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; ⁸ and passing by ^(T)Mysia, they came down to ^(U)Troas. ^9 (V)A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of ^(W)Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ When he had seen ^(X)the vision, immediately ^(Y)we sought to ^[e]go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to ^(Z)preach the gospel to them.

¹¹ So putting out to sea from ^(AA)Troas, we ran ^(AB)a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis; ¹² and from there to ^(AC)Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of ^(AD)Macedonia, ^(AE)a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days. ¹³ And on ^(AF)the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

First Convert in Europe

¹⁴ A woman named Lydia, from the city of ^(AG)Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, ^(AH)a worshiper of God, was listening; ^[f]and the Lord ^(AI)opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. ¹⁵ And when she and ^(AJ)her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶ It happened that as we were going to ^(AK)the place of prayer, a slave-girl having ^(AL)a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of ^(AM)the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you ^[g]the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you ^(AN)in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very ^[h]moment.

¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of ^(AO)profit was ^[i]gone, they seized ^(AP)Paul and Silas and ^(AQ)dragged them into the market place before the authorities, ²⁰ and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, ²¹ and ^(AR)are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being ^(AS)Romans.”

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

²² The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their ^[j]robes off them and proceeded to order ^[k]them to be ^(AT)beaten with rods. ²³ When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding ^(AU)the jailer to guard them securely; ^24 [l]and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in ^(AV)the ^[m]stocks.

²⁵ But about midnight ^(AW)Paul and Silas were praying and ^(AX)singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; ²⁶ and suddenly ^(AY)there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately ^(AZ)all the doors were opened and everyone’s ^(BA)chains were unfastened. ²⁷ When ^(BB)the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about ^(BC)to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” ²⁹ And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before ^(BD)Paul and Silas, ³⁰ and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, ^(BE)what must I do to be saved?”

The Jailer Converted

³¹ They said, “^(BF)Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and ^(BG)your household.” ³² And they spoke the word of ^[n]the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them ^(BH)that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴ And he brought them into his house and set ^[o]food before them, and rejoiced ^[p]greatly, having believed in God with ^(BI)his whole household.

³⁵ Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” ³⁶ And ^(BJ)the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go ^(BK)in peace.” ³⁷ But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, ^(BL)men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” ³⁸ The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. ^(BM)They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, ³⁹ and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them ^(BN)to leave the city. ⁴⁰ They went out of the prison and entered the house of ^(BO)Lydia, and when they saw ^(BP)the brethren, they ^[q]encouraged them and departed.