17
She kept following close behind Paul and the rest of us, crying aloud, "These men are the bondservants of the Most High God, and are proclaiming to you the way of salvation."
18
This she persisted in for a considerable time, until Paul, wearied out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out immediately.
19
But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them off to the magistrates in the public square.
20
Then they brought them before the praetors. "These men," they said, "are creating a great disturbance in our city.
21
They are Jews, and are teaching customs which we, as Romans, are not permitted to adopt or practise."
22
The crowd, too, joined in the outcry against them, till at length the praetors ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods;
23
and, after severely flogging them, they threw them into jail and bade the jailer keep them safely.
24
He, having received an order like that, lodged them in the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,
26
when suddenly there was such a violent shock of earthquake that the prison shook to its foundations. Instantly the doors all flew open, and the chains fell off from every prisoner.
27
Starting up from sleep and seeing the doors of the jail wide open, the jailer drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.