Paul and Silas in Prison

As Paul and his companions were going to prayer, they met a girl who brought her masters money by fortune telling. For many days she followed Paul and the others, calling out about them. At last Paul turned and commanded the spirit in the name of Jesus Christ to come out, and it left her.

The girl’s masters saw that their hope of profit was gone. They seized Paul and Silas, dragged them into the marketplace, and accused them before the magistrates. The crowd joined in. The magistrates ordered them to be beaten with rods and thrown into prison, and the jailer put them in the inner prison with their feet fastened in stocks.

About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly a great earthquake shook the prison’s foundations. At once all the doors opened, and everyone’s chains were loosened.

The jailer woke, saw the prison doors open, and thought the prisoners had escaped. He was about to kill himself, but Paul shouted for him not to harm himself, because they were all still there. Trembling, the jailer came in, brought Paul and Silas out, and asked what he must do to be saved.

They told him to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and everyone in his house. That same night he washed their wounds, and he and his household were baptised. He brought them into his house, set food before them, and rejoiced because he had believed in God.

When morning came, the magistrates sent word to release them. But Paul said they had been beaten publicly without a trial, even though they were Romans, and should not be sent away secretly. The magistrates became afraid, came themselves, brought them out, and asked them to leave the city. Paul and Silas visited Lydia’s house, encouraged the believers, and then departed.