Beginning

Timothy Accompanies Paul and Silas

16 Then he came to Derbe and then to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess who believed, but his father was a Greek. ² He was well spoken of by the brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium. ³ Paul wanted him to travel with him. So he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ As they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to observe, that were set forth by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. ⁵ So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

Paul’s Vision of the Macedonian

⁶ They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. ⁷ When they came near Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them. ⁸ So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. ⁹ During the night a vision appeared to Paul: A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

The Conversion of Lydia

¹¹ From Troas we set sail on a straight course to Samothrace and the next day to Neapolis, ¹² and from there to Philippi, which is the main city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. We stayed in this city several days.

¹³ On the Sabbath we went out of the city to a riverside, where prayer was customarily offered. And we sat down and spoke to the women who had assembled. ¹⁴ A woman named Lydia, a seller of purple fabric of the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God, heard us. The Lord opened her heart to acknowledge what Paul said. ¹⁵ When she and her household were baptized, she entreated us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and remain there.” And she persuaded us.

The Imprisonment in Philippi

¹⁶ On one occasion, as we went to the place of prayer, a servant girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ She did this for many days. But becoming greatly troubled, Paul turned to the spirit and said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out at that moment.

¹⁹ When her masters saw that the hope of their profits was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace to the rulers. ²⁰ And they brought them to the magistrates, saying, “These men, being Jews, greatly trouble our city ²¹ and teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.”

²² The crowd rose up together against them. And the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them. ²³ After they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely. ²⁴ Having received such an order, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵ At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s shackles were loosened. ²⁷ When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

²⁹ He called for lights and rushed in, trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then led them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹ They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your household will be saved.” ³² And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his household. ³³ In that hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds. And immediately he and his entire household were baptized. ³⁴ Then he brought them up to his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced with his entire household believing in God.

³⁵ When it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Release those men.” ³⁶ The prison guard reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to release you. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”

³⁷ But Paul said to them, “They have publicly beaten us, who are uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they secretly throw us out? Certainly not! Let them come themselves and bring us out.”

³⁸ The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. ³⁹ So they came and entreated them. And they brought them out, asking them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia. When they had seen the brothers, they exhorted them and departed.

The Uproar in Thessalonica

17 When they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ² According to his custom, Paul went in, and on three Sabbaths he lectured to them from the Scriptures, ³ explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I preach to you, is the Christ.” ⁴ Some of them were persuaded and joined with Paul and Silas, including a great crowd of devout Greeks and many leading women.

⁵ But the Jews who did not believe became jealous and, taking some evil men from the marketplace, gathered a crowd, stirred up the city, and attacked the house of Jason, trying to bring them out to the mob. ⁶ But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brothers to the city officials, crying out, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, ⁷ and Jason has received them. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” ⁸ They troubled the crowd and the city officials when they heard these things. ⁹ When they had taken a bail payment from Jason and the rest, they released them.

The Apostles in Berea

¹⁰ The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹ These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all eagerness, daily examining the Scriptures, to find out if these things were so. ¹² Therefore many of them believed, including honorable Greek women and many Greek men.

¹³ But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also, stirring up the crowds. ¹⁴ The brothers immediately sent Paul away to the sea. But Silas and Timothy remained there. ¹⁵ Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and departed with instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him quickly.

Paul in Athens

¹⁶ While Paul waited for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ Therefore he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to there. ¹⁸ Then some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What will this babbler say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection to them. ¹⁹ They took hold of him and led him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? ²⁰ For you are bringing strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” ²¹ For all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing else, but either telling or hearing something new.

²² Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. ²³ For as I passed by and looked up at your objects of worship, I found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Whom you therefore unknowingly worship, Him I proclaim to you.

²⁴ “God who made the world and all things in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by hands. ²⁵ Nor is He served by men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives all men life and breath and all things. ²⁶ He has made from one blood every nation of men to live on the entire face of the earth, having appointed fixed times and the boundaries of their habitation, ²⁷ that they should seek the Lord so perhaps they might reach for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

²⁹ “Therefore since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to suppose that the Deity is like gold or silver or stone or an engraved work of art or an image of the reflection of man. ³⁰ God overlooked the times of ignorance, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent. ³¹ For He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed, having given assurance of this to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

³² When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed. But others said, “We will hear you again concerning this matter.” ³³ So Paul departed from them. ³⁴ However, some men joined him and believed. Among them were Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.