¹And he arrived in Derbe and Lystra, where there was a certain disciple by the name of Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman, who was a believer, and a Greek father, ²and he was highly regarded by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium. ³Paul wanted him to come along with him, and he took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴And as they went through the cities, they delivered decrees to them, to keep, which had been issued by the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem. ⁵So the churches were consolidated in the faith, and they increased in number daily. ⁶But as they passed through Phrygia and the Galatian region, they were prevented by the holy spirit from speaking the word in Asia, ⁷and they came down to Mysia, and they attempted to go down to Bithynia, but the spirit did not allow them, ⁸and by-passing Mysia they went down to Troas. ⁹Then a vision appeared in the night to Paul – a certain Macedonian man was standing and calling on him and saying, “Cross into Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰And when he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to depart for Macedonia, deducing that the Lord had called on us to preach the gospel to them. ¹¹So we set sail from Troas and had a straight voyage to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis. ¹²And from there to Philippi, which is the first city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony, and we were in the city itself spending time there for several days. ¹³And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city along the river where prayer was customarily held, and we sat down and spoke to the women who were gathered there. ¹⁴And a certain woman by the name of Lydia was listening, a seller of purple cloth, of the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God, whose heart the Lord had opened to pay heed to the things spoken by Paul. ¹⁵And when she had been baptized, along with her household, she invited us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay in my house.” And she urged us to do so. ¹⁶And it came to pass as we were going to prayer that a certain girl who was possessed by a soothsaying spirit met us, and who provided her masters with much business by soothsaying. ¹⁷She followed Paul and us persistently and kept shouting out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they will declare the way of salvation to us.” ¹⁸She kept doing this for many days. Paul, being worn out with annoyance, 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 hour. ¹⁹But when her masters saw that the mainstay of their business had come out, they laid hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them to the market place to the governors. ²⁰And they led them to the magistrates and said, “These men are stirring up our city, and, being Jews, ²¹are declaring customs which we are not permitted to adopt or to do, since we are Romans.” ²²And the crowd rose up against them together, and the magistrates tore their coats and ordered beating with rods. ²³And after inflicting many blows on them, they threw them in prison, ordering the prison guard to guard them securely, ²⁴and he accepted such a charge and put them in the innermost prison area and secured their feet in stocks. ²⁵Now at around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, ²⁶when suddenly a heavy earthquake took place, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's shackles became detached. ²⁷The prison guard was awoken from his sleep, and when he saw that the doors of the prison were open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul shouted in a loud voice and said, “Don't do yourself any harm, for we are all here.” ²⁹Then he asked for light and rushed in, and with trembling he fell down at Paul and Silas, ³⁰and he led them out and said, “Gentlemen, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your household will be saved.” ³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all those in his house. ³³Then he took them along at that hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was immediately baptized, as were all those of his family. ³⁴And he led them up to his house, and he served them a meal, and he rejoiced with all his household, having believed in God. ³⁵After a day had passed, the magistrates sent the lictors and said, “Release those men.” ³⁶And the prison guard reported these words to Paul as follows: “The magistrates have sent word that you should be released. So depart now and go in peace.” ³⁷Then Paul said to them, “They flogged us when we were uncondemned, in public, although we are Roman citizens, and they threw us in prison. And now, are they going to expel us in secret? Not likely! Rather, let them come and conduct us out themselves.” ³⁸And the lictors reported these words to the magistrates, and they became afraid when they heard that they were Romans, ³⁹and they came and apologized to them profusely, then they conducted them out and asked them to leave the city. ⁴⁰So they came out of the prison and went to Lydia's house, and they saw the brothers there and encouraged them, and they departed again.