Old/New Testament

Timothy—and new developments

16 Paul went on further, to Derbe and then Lystra. There was a disciple there by the name of Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but with a Greek father. ² The Christians in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. ³ Paul wanted Timothy to go with them, so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews in those regions, since they all knew that his father was Greek. ⁴ When they went through the cities, they handed on to them the decisions which had been taken by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, so that they could observe them. ⁵ The churches were strengthened in faith, and grew in number every day.

⁶ They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, since the holy spirit had forbidden them to speak the word in the province of Asia. ⁷ When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus didn’t allow them to do so. ⁸ So, passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. ⁹ Then a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man from Macedonia was standing there, pleading with him, and saying, “Come across to Macedonia and help us!” ¹⁰ When he saw the vision, at once we set about finding a way to get across to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the good news to them.

Preaching and prison in Philippi

¹¹ So we sailed away from Troas and made a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis. ¹² From there we went on to Philippi, a Roman colony, the chief city of the district of Macedonia. We stayed in this city for some days.

¹³ On the sabbath day we went outside the gate to a place by a river where we reckoned there was a place of prayer, and there we sat down. Some women had gathered, and we spoke to them. ¹⁴ There was a woman called Lydia, a godfearer, who was a seller of purple from Thyatira. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. ¹⁵ She was baptized, with all her household.

“If you have judged me faithful to the Lord,” she begged us, “please come and stay at my home.”

So she persuaded us.

¹⁶ As we were going to the place of prayer we were met by a girl who had a spirit of divination. She and her oracles made a good living for her owners. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and the rest of us.

“These men are servants of God Most High!” she would shout out. “They are declaring to you the way of salvation!”

¹⁸ She did this for many days. Eventually, Paul got fed up with it. He turned round and addressed the spirit.

“I command you in the name of Jesus the Messiah,” he said, “come out of her!”

And it came out then and there.

¹⁹ When the girl’s owners saw that their hope of profit had vanished, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged them into the public square before the authorities, ²⁰ and presented them to the magistrates.

“These men,” they said, “are throwing our city into an uproar! They are Jews, ²¹ and they are teaching customs which it’s illegal for us Romans to accept or practice!”