Seventh Sunday of Easter
Acts 16:16-34

Paul went on also to Derbe and to Lystra, where there was a disciple named
Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was
a Greek.  He was well spoken of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium.
Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and had him
circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all
knew that his father was a Greek.  As they went from town to town, they
delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by
the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.  So the churches were
strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden
by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.  When they had come opposite
Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not
allow them; so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.  During the
night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him
and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."  When he had seen the
vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced
that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the
following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading
city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.  We remained in this
city for some days.  On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the
river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and
spoke to the women who had gathered there.  A certain woman named Lydia, a
worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira
and a dealer in purple cloth.  The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly
to what was said by Paul.  When she and her household were baptized, she
urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come
and stay at my home."  And she prevailed upon us.

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who
had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by
fortune-telling.  While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out,
"These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of
salvation."  She kept doing this for many days.  But Paul, very much
annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus
Christ to come out of her."  And it came out that very hour.

But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they
seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the
authorities.  When they had brought them before the magistrates, they
said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating
customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe."  The
crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of
their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.  After they had
given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the
jailer to keep them securely.  Following these instructions, he put them
in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and
the prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was an earthquake,
so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately
all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened.  When the
jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and
was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had
escaped.  But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we
are all here."  The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down
trembling before Paul and Silas.  Then he brought them outside and said,
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"  They answered, "Believe on the Lord
Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."  They spoke the
word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.  At the same
hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his
entire family were baptized without delay.  He brought them up into the
house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced
that he had become a believer in God.