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New Testament Reading - Set Free from Prison

²²A mob was quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the judges ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden whips. ²³Again and again the rods slashed down across their bared backs; and afterwards they were thrown into prison. The jailer was threatened with death if they escaped,^{a 24}so he took no chances, but put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet into the stocks.

²⁵Around midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to the Lord—and the other prisoners were listening— ²⁶suddenly there was a great earthquake; the prison was shaken to its foundations, all the doors flew open — and the chains of every prisoner fell off! ²⁷The jailer wakened to see the prison doors wide open, and assuming the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself.

²⁸But Paul yelled to him, “Don’t do it! We are all here!”

²⁹Trembling with fear, the jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down before Paul and Silas. ³⁰He brought them out and begged them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, and your entire household.”

³²Then they told him and all his household the Good News from the Lord. ³³That same hour he washed their stripes, and he and all his family were baptized. ³⁴Then he brought them up into his house and set a meal before them. How he and his household rejoiced because all were now believers!

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