Passage

Acts 16.25

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

23. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24. who, having received such a charge, cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

25. But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns unto God, and the prisoners were listening to them;

and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison-house were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened; and every one's bands were loosed. 27. And the jailor, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. (Acts 16:23-27, ASV)

WEB

23. When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, 24. who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.

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

Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened. 27. The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. (Acts 16:23-27, WEB)

KJV

23. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24. Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. 27. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. (Acts 16:23-27, KJV)

YLT

23. many blows also having laid upon them, they cast them to prison, having given charge to the jailor to keep them safely, 24. who such a charge having received, did put them to the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks.

25. And at midnight Paul and Silas praying, were singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were hearing them,

and suddenly a great earthquake came, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, opened also presently were all the doors, and of all, the bands were loosed; 27. and the jailor having come out of sleep, and having seen the doors of the prison open, having drawn a sword, was about to kill himself, supposing the prisoners to be fled, (Acts 16:23-27, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Luke, narrating. Acts is the second volume of a two-part work addressed to Theophilus (Acts 1:1, compare Luke 1:1-4).
Audience: Theophilus and the wider church. Within the scene, the other prisoners of the Philippian jail.
Location: The inner prison at Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia.
Time period: The second missionary journey, c. AD 49-50.

Theological reading

"And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." (Acts 16:25, KJV)

The circumstances. Paul and Silas had been stripped, beaten with rods by order of the magistrates, thrown into the inner prison, and fastened in the stocks (16:22-24). Paul later counted three such beatings (2 Corinthians 11:25), and he reminded the Thessalonians that he had been "shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi" (1 Thessalonians 2:2, KJV). Luke does not soften it.

Prayer and song at midnight. The main verb, hymnoun, is imperfect, describing action in progress: while praying, they were singing hymns to God. Psalm 119:62 speaks of rising "at midnight" to give thanks (KJV). The joy is not denial of pain but trust in God within it, the same joy Paul later commends to this church from another prison: "Rejoice in the Lord alway" (Philippians 4:4, KJV).

"The prisoners heard them." The Greek verb (epēkroōnto) means they were listening attentively. Luke notes the audience because it matters to what follows. When the earthquake opens the doors and loosens every chain, no prisoner escapes (16:26-28), and the jailer, who expected to answer with his life for their escape, asks, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (16:30, KJV).

An early reflection. Tertullian, writing to imprisoned Christians around AD 200, observed that "the leg feels nothing in the stocks when the mind is in heaven" (To the Martyrs 2). The scene at Philippi is the pattern behind that encouragement. See Church at Philippi and Argument from the Universal Music Convergence.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Church at Philippi, via Acts 16.11-40, Acts 16.25-34
Churches the Disciples Started, via Acts 16.11-40
Politarch Inscriptions, via Acts 16.20-38

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.