New Testament in a Year

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16 Now Paul also arrived at ^(A)Derbe and at ^(B)Lystra. And behold, 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 brothers 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 keep. ⁵ So ^(L)the churches were being strengthened ^[b]in the faith, and were ^(M)abounding in number daily.

The Macedonian Vision

⁶ And 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)And 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 And when he had seen ^(X)the vision, immediately ^(Y)we sought to ^[e]go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to ^(Z)proclaim the gospel to them.

Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

¹¹ So setting sail 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 sitting down, we began speaking to the women who had assembled. ¹⁴ And a woman named Lydia, from the city of ^(AG)Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, ^(AH)a worshiper of God, was listening, whose heart the Lord ^(AI)opened to pay attention 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.

Paul and Silas in Prison

¹⁶ Now it happened that as we were going to ^(AK)the place of prayer, a servant-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 slaves of ^(AM)the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you ^[f]the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ And she continued doing this for many days. But being greatly annoyed, Paul turned and said to the spirit, “I command you ^(AN)in the name of Jesus Christ to leave her!” And it left at that very ^[g]moment.

¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of ^(AO)profit had left, they seized ^(AP)Paul and Silas and ^(AQ)dragged them into the marketplace 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 that are not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being ^(AS)Romans.”