Paul and Silas in Prison

¹⁶ Now it happened that as we were going to ^(A)the place of prayer, a servant-girl having ^(B)a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of ^(A)profit had left, they seized ^(B)Paul and Silas and ^(C)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 ^(D)are proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being ^(E)Romans.” ²² And the crowd joined together to attack them, and the chief magistrates, tearing their garments off of them, proceeded to order them to be ^(F)beaten with rods. ²³ And when they had inflicted them with many wounds, they threw them into prison, commanding ^(G)the jailer to guard them securely, ²⁴ who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in ^(H)the ^[a]stocks.

The Philippian Jailer Converted

²⁵ But about midnight ^(I)Paul and Silas were praying and ^(J)singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ And suddenly ^(K)there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the jailhouse were shaken; and immediately ^(L)all the doors were opened and everyone’s ^(M)chains were unfastened. ²⁷ And when ^(N)the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about ^(O)to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” ²⁹ And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before ^(P)Paul and Silas, ³⁰ and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, ^(Q)what must I do to be saved?” ³¹ And they said, “^(R)Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and ^(S)your house.” ³² And they spoke the word of ^[b]the Lord to him together with all who were in his household. ³³ And he took them ^(T)that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴ And he brought them into his house and set ^[c]food before them, and rejoiced ^[d]greatly with ^(U)his whole household, because he had believed in God.

³⁵ Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” ³⁶ And ^(V)the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go ^(W)in peace.” ³⁷ But Paul said to them, “Having beaten us in public without trial, ^(X)men who are Romans, they have thrown us into prison. And now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” ³⁸ And the policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. ^(Y)They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, ³⁹ and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept requesting them ^(Z)to leave the city. ⁴⁰ And they went out of the prison and entered the house of ^(AA)Lydia, and when they saw ^(AB)the brothers, they ^[e]encouraged them and left.