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Acts 16:24
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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?”  
Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
<< Acts 16:23   Acts 16:25 >>


Acts 16:24

Into the inner prison (eiv thn eswteran fulakhn). The comparative form from the adverb esw (within), Ionic and old Attic for eisw. In the LXX, but in the N.T. only here and Hebrews 6:19. The Roman public prisons had a vestibule and outer prison and behind this the inner prison, a veritable dungeon with no light or air save what came through the door when open. One has only to picture modern cells in our jails, the dungeons in feudal castles, London prisons before the time of Howard, to appreciate the horrors of an inner prison cell in a Roman provincial town of the first century AD

Made their feet fast (touv podav hsfalisato autwn). First aorist (effective) middle of asfalizw, from asfalhv (safe), common verb in late Greek, in the N.T. only here and 24:64 ff. The inner prison was safe enough without this refinement of cruelty.

In the stocks (eiv to culon). Culon, from cuw, to scrape or plane, is used for a piece of wood whether a cross or gibbet (Acts 5:30; Acts 10:39; Acts 13:29; Galatians 3:13; I Peter 2:24) or a log or timber with five holes (four for the wrists and ankles and one for the neck) or two for the feet as here, culopedh, Latin vervus, to shackle the feet stretched apart (Job 33:11). This torment was practiced in Sparta, Athens, Rome, and Adonirom Judson suffered it in Burmah. Culon is also used in the N.T. for stick or staff (Matthew 26:47) and even a tree (Luke 23:31). Tertullian said of Christians in the stocks: Nihil crus sentit in vervo, quum animus in caelo est (Nothing the limb feels in the stocks when the mind is in heaven).




Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Acts 16:24:

1 Thessalonians 4:2
Hebrews 6:19

 

<< Acts 16:23   Acts 16:25 >>

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