1 Paul circumciseth Timothy, 14 converteth Lydia, 16 casteth out a spirit of divination; 19 he and Silas are imprisoned.

THEN came he to Derbe and Lystra; and, behold,a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek :

2 Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium :

3 Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him, because of the Jews which were in those quarters; for they knew all that his father was a Greek. 4 And as they went through the cities they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders, which were at Jerusalem.

5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.

6 Now, when they had gone throughout Phrygia, and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,

After they were come to Mysia, they assayed a to go in to Bithynia; but the Spirit

suffered them not.

a Assayed, attempted.

Lydia converted.

8 And they, passing by Mysia, came down to Troas.

9 And a vision appeared to Paul, in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help

us.

10 And, after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering,b that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them.

11 Therefore, loosing from Troas we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis ;c

12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony; and we were in 'that city abiding certain days.

13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made ;d and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.

14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things, which were spoken of Paul.

b Assuredly gathering, or concluding.

c Samothracia. Neapolis. Here for

the first time we find the apostles travelling into Europe to carry the

glad tidings of the Gospel.

d Was wont, &c. Was usually made.

15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.

16¶ And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divinatione met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying f

17 The same followed Panl and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned, and said to the spirit, I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

19¶ And when her masters saw that the hope of their gainsg was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the market-place unto the rulers,

20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,

21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Ro

mans.

ef Divination, pretending to foretel future events; fortune telling. g Gains, profits arising from the damsel's reputed skill in divination.

imprisoned.

22 And the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates rent off their clothes,h and commanded to beat them.

23 And, when they had laid many stripes upon them, they east them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely;

24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

25¶ And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God; and the prisoners heard them.

26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison-doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm; for we are all here.

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

30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

Rent off their clothes; the magis trates stripped the apostles.

The keeper of the

31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

34 And, when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

35 ¶ And, when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go,

36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore depart and go in peace.

37 But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans,i and have cast us into prison; and now, do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.

i Being Romans. Roman citizenship was a distinguished privilege, which without being born of Roman parents, was frequently enjoyed either by purchase, as the reward of merit, or from being born in certain cities, called municipal; and from parents, who had once obtained it, it descended to their children, in which case probably Paul became a Roman citizen.

prison baptized.

38 And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates; and they feared,j when they heard that they were Romans.

39 And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.

40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.

CHAP. XVII. 1 Paul preacheth at Thessalonica, 10 and at Berea : 34 many are converted. NOW,when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:

2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures;

3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you is Christ.a

4 And some of them believ

The magistrates feared, because they had been guilty of violence, which was unlawful to be shewn towards Roman citizens, whose privilege exempted them from being bound or beaten with rods.

a Christ, the Messiah.

ed, and consorted b with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. 5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set ail the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

6 And, when they found them not, they drew Jason, and certain brethren, unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down, are come hither also;

7 Whom Jason hath received; and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar, saying, That there is another king, one Jesus.

8 And they troubled the people, and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.

9 And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.

10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea; who, coming thither, went into the synagogue of the Jews.

11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that e they received the word

and Athens.

with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men not a few.

13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge, that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people."

14 And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul, to go as it were to the sea; but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.

15 And they that conducted Paul, brought him unto Athens,d and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.

16 Now, while Paul waited for them at Athens his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

17 Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.

18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans,e and

d Athens, one of the most ancient and celebrated cities of Greece. It was the seat of the arts and sciences, and distinguished for the wealth, politeness and bravery of its inhabitants,

e Epicureans, a sect of heathen phi

hered to.

In that, because.

from Epicurus, the Athenian who flourished about 200 years before

he preacheth of the Stoics,f encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods; because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

19 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus,g saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?

20 For thou bringest eertain strange things to our ears; we would know, therefore, what these things mean.

Christ. They believed the world to be the effect of chance; that there were superior and divine beings, but that they did not trouble themselves

with the government of the world.

They denied the immortality of the soul, and placed their chief happiness in tranquility of mind, or in corpo real pleasures, such as eating, drink ing, and other sensual gratifications. Stoics, a sect of heathen philosophers, who took their rise from one Zeno of Cyprus, who lived about 350 years before Christ. They taught, that God was the soul of the universe,& that though he did not create matter, he formed, and actuates all things. They believed that wisdom alone makes men happy, that pain and poverty are but imaginary evils; and that a wise man ought not to be affected with either joy or grief. They affected great indifference, patience, austerity and insensibility. This philosophy was for many ages. popular, especially at Athens.

Areopagus, Mars' hill, or the hill of Mars, the heathen god of war. On this hill was held the highest court of Athens; and hence called the Areopagus.

at Athens.

21 (For all the Athenians, and strangers, which were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.)

22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

23 For, as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

24 God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 127 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from eve ry one of us:

28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as

h Inscription, i. e. on the altar were written or engraved the following words; "To the unknown god.”