Acts 16:12

Acts 16:12

10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go ^ato Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Lydia Baptized at Philippi

11 Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis,

12 and from there to ^aPhilippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days.

13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.

14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of ^aThyatira, who worshiped God. ^bThe Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.

15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So ^ashe persuaded us.

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl ^apossessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters ^bmuch profit by fortune-telling.

17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”

18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, ^agreatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” ^bAnd he came out that very hour.

19 But ^awhen her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and ^bdragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

20 And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, ^aexceedingly trouble our city;

21 and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.”

22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes ^aand commanded them to be beaten with rods.

23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.

24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

The Philippian Jailer Saved

25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

26 ^aSuddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately ^ball the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.

28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”

29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

30 And he brought them out and said, ^a“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 So they said, ^a“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.

34 Now when he had brought them into his house, ^ahe set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.

Paul Refuses to Depart Secretly

35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the¹ officers, saying, “Let those men go.”

36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”

Commentaries:

Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)

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To Philippi (eiv Filippouv). The plural like Aqhnai (Athens) is probably due to separate sections of the city united (Winer-Moulton, Grammar, p. 220). The city (ancient name Krenides or Wells) was renamed after himself by Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. It was situated about a mile east of the small stream Gangites which flows into the river Strymon some thirty miles away. In this valley the Battle of Philippi was fought BC 42 between the Second Triumvirate (Octavius, Antonius, Lepidus) and Brutus and Cassius. In memory of the victory Octavius made it a colony (kolwnia) with all the privileges of Roman citizenship, such as freedom from scourging, freedom from arrest save in extreme cases, and the right of appeal to the emperor. This Latin word occurs here alone in the N.T. Octavius planted here a colony of Roman veterans with farms attached, a military outpost and a miniature of Rome itself. The language was Latin. Here Paul is face to face with the Roman power and empire in a new sense. He was a new Alexander, come from Asia to conquer Europe for Christ, a new Caesar to build the Kingdom of Christ on the work of Alexander and Caesar. One need not think that Paul was conscious of all that was involved in destiny for the world. Philippi was on the Egnatian Way, one of the great Roman roads, that ran from here to Dyrrachium on the shores of the Adriatic, a road that linked the east with the west.

The first of the district (prwth thv meridov). Philippi was not the first city of Macedonia nor does Luke say so. That honour belonged to Thessalonica and even Amphipolis was larger than Philippi. It is not clear whether by meriv Luke means a formal division of the province, though the Koin‚ has examples of this geographical sense (papyri). There is no article with prwth and Luke may not mean to stress unduly the position of Philippi in comparison with Amphipolis. But it was certainly a leading city of this district of Macedonia.

We were tarrying (hmen diatribontev). Periphrastic imperfect active.

**Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Acts 16:12:**

Matthew 6:11
Philippians 1:1
Colossians 1:12

<< Acts 16:11

Acts 16:13 >>

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