13And 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.
14Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of mThyatira, who worshiped God. nThe Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
15And 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 oshe persuaded us.
Paul and Silas Imprisoned
16Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl ppossessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters qmuch profit by fortune-telling.
17This 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.”
18And this she did for many days. But Paul, rgreatly 4annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” sAnd he came out that very hour.
19But twhen her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and udragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
20And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, vexceedingly trouble our city;
21“and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.”
22Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes wand commanded them to be beaten with rods.
23And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.
24Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
The Philippian Jailer Saved
25But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
26xSuddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately yall the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
27And 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.
28But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
29Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
30And he brought them out and said, z“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31So they said, a“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
33And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.
34Now when he had brought them into his house, bhe set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
Paul Refuses to Depart Secretly
35And when it was day, the magistrates sent the 5officers, saying, “Let those men go.”
36So 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.”
37But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned cRomans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.”
38And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans.
39Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and dasked them to depart from the city.
40So they went out of the prison eand entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.
Acts 17
Preaching Christ at Thessalonica
1Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to aThessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
2Then Paul, as his custom was, bwent in to them, and for three Sabbaths creasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3explaining and demonstrating dthat the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”
4eAnd some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and fSilas.
Assault on Jason’s House
5But the Jews 1who were not persuaded, 2becoming genvious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of hJason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
6But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, i“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
7“Jason has 3harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, jsaying there is another king—Jesus.”
8And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.
9So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Ministering at Berea
10Then kthe brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11These were more 4fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and lsearched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
12Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.
13But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds.
14mThen immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there.
15So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and nreceiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.
The Philosophers at Athens
16Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, ohis spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was 5given over to idols.
17Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.
186Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this 7babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them pJesus and the resurrection.
19And they took him and brought him to the 8Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?
20“For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”
21For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
Addressing the Areopagus
22Then Paul stood in the midst of the 9Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;
23“for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
24q“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is rLord of heaven and earth, sdoes not dwell in temples made with hands.
25“Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He tgives to all life, breath, and all things.
26“And He has made from one 10blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and uthe boundaries of their dwellings,
27v“so that they should seek the L
ord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, wthough He is not far from each one of us;
28“for xin Him we live and move and have our being, yas also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
29“Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, zwe ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.
30“Truly, athese times of ignorance God overlooked, but bnow commands all men everywhere to repent,
31“because He has appointed a day on which cHe will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by draising Him from the dead.”
32And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”
33So Paul departed from among them.
34However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Acts 18
Ministering at Corinth
1After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth.
2And he found a certain Jew named aAquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them.
3So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them band worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers.
4cAnd he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.
5dWhen Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was ecompelled 1by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.
6But fwhen they opposed him and blasphemed, ghe shook his garments and said to them, h“Your blood be upon your own heads; iI am clean. jFrom now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
7And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named 2Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.
8kThen Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.
9Now lthe Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent;
10m“for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.”
11And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
12When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the 3judgment seat,
13saying, “This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”
14And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you.
15“But if it is a nquestion of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.”
16And he drove them from the judgment seat.
17Then 4all the Greeks took oSosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things.
Paul Returns to Antioch
18So Paul still remained 5a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. pHe had his hair cut off at qCenchrea, for he had taken a vow.
19And he came to Ephesus, and left them there; but he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
20When they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent,
21but took leave of them, saying, r“I6 must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, sGod willing.” And he sailed from Ephesus.
22And when he had landed at tCaesarea, and 7gone up and greeted the church, he went down to Antioch.
23After he had spent some time there, he departed and went over the region of uGalatia and Phrygia 8in order, vstrengthening all the disciples.
Ministry of Apollos
24wNow a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.
25This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being xfervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, ythough he knew only the baptism of John.
26So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
27And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, zhe greatly helped those who had believed through grace;
28for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, ashowing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.
Acts 19
Paul at Ephesus
1And it happened, while aApollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through bthe upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples
2he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, c“We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
3And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, d“Into John’s baptism.”
4Then Paul said, e“John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
5When they heard this, they were baptized fin the name of the Lord Jesus.
6And when Paul had glaid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and hthey spoke with tongues and prophesied.
7Now the men were about twelve in all.
8iAnd he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading jconcerning the things of the kingdom of God.
9But kwhen some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil lof the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
10And mthis continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
Miracles Glorify Christ
11Now nGod worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul,
12oso that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.
13pThen some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists qtook it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, 1“We 2exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul rpreaches.”
14Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.
15And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”
16Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, 3overpowered them, and prevailed against 4them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and sfear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
18And many who had believed came tconfessing and telling their deeds.
19Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.
20uSo the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
The Riot at Ephesus
21vWhen these things were accomplished, Paul wpurposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through xMacedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, yI must also see Rome.”
22So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, zTimothy and aErastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time.
23And babout that time there arose a great commotion about cthe Way.
24For a certain man named Demetri
us, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of 5Diana, brought dno small profit to the craftsmen.
25He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade.
26“Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that ethey are not gods which are made with hands.
27“So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and 6her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.”
28Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”
29So the whole city was filled with confusion, and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized fGaius and gAristarchus, Macedonians, Paul’s travel companions.
30And when Paul wanted to go in to the people, the disciples would not allow him.
31Then some of the 7officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading that he would not venture into the theater.
32Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
33And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And hAlexander imotioned with his hand, and wanted to make his defense to the people.
34But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for about two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”
35And when the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he said: “Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess 8Diana, and of the image which fell down from 9Zeus?
36“Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly.
37“For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of 10your goddess.
38“Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a 11case against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 543