Acts 16:9-15
New Catholic Bible
Paul at Philippi.[a] 9 During the night, Paul had a vision in which a man of Macedonia appeared to him and pleaded with him, saying, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Once he had seen this vision, we immediately arranged for passage to Macedonia, convinced that God had summoned us to proclaim the good news to them.
11 We set sail from Troas and made a straight run to Samothrace.[b] On the following day, we reached Neapolis, 12 and from there we sailed to Philippi,[c] a leading city in the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We spent some time in that city.
13 On the Sabbath, we went outside the city gate alongside the river where we assumed there would be a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of the women, whose name was Lydia, was a worshiper of God. She was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. 15 When she and her household had been baptized, she urged us insistently, “If you regard me as a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she won us over.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Acts 16:9 The account shifts to the first person, “we” (v. 10), as Luke will do three more times (Acts 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1—28:16); these passages probably represent personal notes of Luke about events that he himself witnessed (see Lk 1:1). The listeners and different social groups are always addressed according to the same order. One tries at first to make the Jewish community change its mind and accept the fulfillment of the history of its people; then one turns to the Gentiles. At Philippi, Paul encounters some Jews who are influenced by Hellenism and devoted to commerce. The home of Lydia becomes the center of a community.
- Acts 16:11 Samothrace: an island in the northeastern Aegean Sea. Neapolis: the seaport for Philippi, ten miles away.
- Acts 16:12 Philippi: a city in eastern Macedonia. Some of its members establish a flourishing Christian community to which one of Paul’s Letters will later be addressed.
