Acts 16:23

23 And when they had given them a great number of blows, they put them in prison, giving orders to the keeper of the prison to keep them safely:

Acts 16:23 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 16:23

And when they had laid many stripes upon them
Even above measure, as in ( 2 Corinthians 11:35 ) . They cast them into prison;
designing doubtless to inflict some greater punishment upon them, after they had further examined into their affairs: charging the jailer to keep them safely;
suggesting, that he must be answerable for them, should they escape, either through his favour or his negligence; and they might rather give this strict charge, because they perceived that they were uncommon men, possessed of a strange power, which they had exerted in the casting out of the evil spirit, which might come to their knowledge by some means or other; they might look upon them to be a sort of magicians, and therefore were to be narrowly watched, that they did not make use of their art to deliver themselves; however, they judged it necessary to use all the precautions they could, to secure them: some have thought this jailer to be the same with Stephanas, ( 1 Corinthians 1:16 ) but this is not certain, nor very probable.

Acts 16:23 In-Context

21 Teaching rules of living which it is not right for us to have or to keep, being Romans.

22 And the people made an attack on them all together: and the authorities took their clothing off them, and gave orders for them to be whipped.

23 And when they had given them a great number of blows, they put them in prison, giving orders to the keeper of the prison to keep them safely:

24 And he, having such orders, put them into the inner prison with chains on their feet.

25 But about the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were making prayers and songs to God in the hearing of the prisoners;