Acts 16:23

23 And [after they] had inflicted many blows on them, they threw [them] into prison, giving orders to the jailer to guard them securely.

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 and are proclaiming customs that are not permitted for us to accept or to practice, [because we] are Romans!"

22 And the crowd joined in attacking them, and the chief magistrates tore off their clothing [and] gave orders to beat [them] with rods.

23 And [after they] had inflicted many blows on them, they threw [them] into prison, giving orders to the jailer to guard them securely.

24 Having received such an order, {he} put them in the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 Now about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying [and] singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[after]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("had inflicted") which is understood as temporal
• [b] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation