New Testament in a Year

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16 Paul arrived in Derbe and in Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, who was the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek. ² The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. ³ Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, so he took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews who lived in those places, because they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the resolutions decided by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to keep. ⁵ So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number day by day.

The Call to Go to Macedonia (Europe)

⁶ They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, because they were prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the word in the province of Asia. ⁷ When they went as far as Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. ⁸ So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. ⁹ A vision appeared to Paul during the night. A Macedonian man was standing there, urging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” ¹⁰ As soon as he had seen the vision, we^[a] immediately made plans to proceed to Macedonia, because we concluded that God^[b] had called us to preach the good news to them.

At Philippi

¹¹ After we put out to sea from Troas, we sailed straight to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis. ¹² From there we went to Philippi, which is a leading city in that part of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for a number of days.

¹³ On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate alongside the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer.^[c] We sat down and began to talk to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴ A woman named Lydia, who worshipped God, was listening. She was a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira. The Lord opened her heart to pay close attention to what Paul was saying. ¹⁵ When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Paul and Silas Put in Prison

¹⁶ Once when we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us. She had a spirit that foretold the future, and she made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ As she followed Paul and us, she kept crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you^[d] the way to be saved.” ¹⁸ When she kept doing this for many days, Paul became so annoyed that he 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 very moment.

¹⁹ When her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. ²⁰ They had brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are throwing our city into a state of confusion. They are Jews, ²¹ and they are teaching customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans.”