New Testament in a Year

The Macedonian Vision

16 Now Paul also came to ^(A)Derbe and to ^(B)Lystra. And a disciple was there, named ^(C)Timothy, the son of a ^(D)Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, ² and he was well spoken of by ^(E)the brothers and sisters who were in ^(F)Lystra and ^(G)Iconium. ³ Paul wanted this man to leave with him; and he ^(H)took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering ^(I)the ordinances for them to follow which had been determined by ^(J)the apostles and ^(K)elders in Jerusalem. ⁵ So ^(L)the churches were being strengthened ^[a]in the faith, and were ^(M)increasing in number daily.

⁶ They passed through the ^[b](N)Phrygian and ^(O)Galatian region, after being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in ^[c](P)Asia; ⁷ and after they came to ^(Q)Mysia, they were trying to go into ^(R)Bithynia, and the ^(S)Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; ⁸ and passing by ^(T)Mysia, they went down to ^(U)Troas. ^9 (V)And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of ^(W)Macedonia was standing and pleading with him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ When he had seen ^(X)the vision, ^(Y)we immediately sought to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to ^(Z)preach the gospel to them.

¹¹ So after setting sail from ^(AA)Troas, we ran ^(AB)a straight course to Samothrace, and on the following day to Neapolis; ¹² and from there to ^(AC)Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of ^(AD)Macedonia, ^(AE)a Roman colony; and we were spending some days in this city. ¹³ And on ^(AF)the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were thinking that there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

First Convert in Europe

¹⁴ A woman named Lydia was listening; she was a seller of purple fabrics from the city of ^(AG)Thyatira, and ^(AH)a worshiper of God. ^[d]The Lord ^(AI)opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. ¹⁵ Now when she and ^(AJ)her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶ It happened that as we were going to ^(AK)the place of prayer, a slave woman who had ^(AL)a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing great profit to her masters by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and us and cried out repeatedly, saying, “These men are bond-servants of ^(AM)the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation.” ¹⁸ Now she continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and he turned and said to the spirit, “I command you ^(AN)in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very ^[e]moment.

¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of ^(AO)profit was suddenly gone, they seized ^(AP)Paul and Silas and ^(AQ)dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities, ²⁰ and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men, Jews as they are, are causing our city trouble, ²¹ and they ^(AR)are proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to practice, since we are ^(AS)Romans.”