The apostle Paul and Silas
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. 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. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace. But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city. And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.-Acts 16:25-40***Paul (Saul) and Silas (Silvanus) were Israelites and Roman citizens and believed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God. The divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible reveals that Paul was born into the tribe of Benjamin. The tribe that Silas was born into is not revealed in the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Benjamin was the 2nd and last son born to Jacob (Israel) and his 2nd wife Rachel. Jacob and his older fraternal twin brother Esau (Edom) were born to Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac was born to 100-year-old Abraham (Abram the Hebrew) and 90-year-old Sarah (Sarai). Abraham, Sarah, Haran, and Nahor (Nachor) were born to Terah. Terah was the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Arphaxad, and Arphaxad was born to Shem, and Shem was born to Noah the ark builder. Lot and Milcah were born to Haran. Bethuel the Syrian (Aramean) was born to Nahor and Milcah. Shem's son Aram was the forefather of the Arameans. Abraham was living with his family in Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, when the Lord God appeared to him and told Abraham to go out from his country, kin and father's house and come into the land he would be shown. Abraham journeyed away from Ur with his wife Sarah, their father Terah and nephew Lot and began living in Haran, in northern Mesopotamia. After 205-year-old Terah died in Haran, 75-year-old Abraham, 65-year-old Sarah, and Lot journeyed with their servants and possessions to Canaan, land inhabited by idolters that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham's descendants and childless Abraham. Ishmael was born in Canaan to 86-year-old Abraham and Hagar, Sarah's maidservant, When Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord God gave him the covenant of circumcision and Abraham circumcised 13-year-old Ishmael, and Abraham and all the males throughout Abraham's household and property were immediately circumcised. Isaac was born to 100-year-old Abraham and 90-year-old Sarah. On the 8th day after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised Isaac. Laban the Syrian (Aramean) and Rebekah were born to Bethuel. Forty years after Isaac was born, he was married to Rebekah. Jacob and Esau were born when Isaac was 60 years old. Esau was Isaac's favorite, and Jacob was Rebekah's favorite. In Padan Aram, Haran, Jacob was married to Laban's daughters Leah and Rachel. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and daughter Dinah were born to Jacob and Leah. Dan and Naphtali were born to Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. Gad and Asher were born to Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's maidservant. Joseph was the 1st son born to Jacob and Rachel, and Rachel and Joseph were Jacob's favorites. During Jacob's 20th year in Haran, he began journeying home to Canaan with his family, servants, animals, and possessions. Near Bethlehem, Benjamin was born and Rachel died. Joseph was 17 years old when his brothers sold him to merchants traveling to Egypt and led Jacob to believe that Joseph was killed by a wild beast, and Joseph was 30 years old when Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, proclaimed him second-in-command. Noah's son Ham, and Ham's son Mizraim were the forefathers of the Egyptians. Jacob was 130 years old when he moved with his family from Canaan to Egypt. In Egypt, Jacob proclaimed Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons born to Joseph and his wife Asenath, to be his own sons, and the tribe of Joseph became the tribe of Manasseh and the tribe of Ephraim. Sometime after 147-year-old Jacob died in Egypt, and Jacob's family buried his body in Canaan, and 110-year-old Joseph and his siblings were dead, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. Miriam and her younger brothers Aaron and Moses were born into the tribe of Levi to Amram and Jochebed. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 when they led the Israelites away from Egypt, across the divinely parted Red Sea, into the desert wilderness of Shur, and the desert wilderness of Sin, and the desert wilderness of Sinai, according to the commands of the Lord God. During the 40-year journey to Canaan, the Promised Land, Miriam the prophetess died and was buried in Kadesh, in the desert wilderness of Zin. Upon Mount Hor, 123-year-old Aaron the high priest died. When Moses went upon Mount Nebo, the Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses the prophet died, and was divinely buried. Joshua, Moses' aide and successor from the tribe of Ephraim, led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants. Over 300 years after 110-year-old Joshua died, and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, became the 1st king to reign. David, from the tribe of Judah, was the 2nd king to rule over all of the Israelites. Solomon, a son born to David and Bathsheba, was the 3rd king. During the 4th year of his 40-year reign, Solomon began building the temple of the Lord, and in the 11th year, workers finished building the temple in Jerusalem. Rehoboam, the son born to Solomon and Naamah, was the 4th king to rule over all of the Israelites. After Rehoboam gave a specific answer, the Israelites split into 2 kingdoms, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of Solomon. Judah was the nation in the south, Jerusalem was the royal city and Rehoboam was the 1st king to reign. Israel was the northern nation, Samaria was the final royal city and Jeroboam, the son born to Nebat and Zeruah, was the 1st king to reign. Approximately 200 years after Jeroboam's son Nadab became the 2nd king to rule the northern nation of Israel, the Assyrians invaded the kingdom and conquered Samaria, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of the Israelites. Less than 140 years after Samaria was conquered, Rehoboam's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson Zedekiah (Mattaniah) became the 19th king to rule Judah. During the 11th year of Zedekiah's reign, the Babylonians (Chaldeans) conquered Jerusalem, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of the Israelites. Over 500 years after Israelites began returning to Judah and Jerusalem, the angel Gabriel appeared to elderly, childless Zechariah (Zacharias) the priest and told Zechariah that his prayer was heard, and and told him about the conception, birth, and purpose of the son who would be born to Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth (Elisabeth). The angel Gabriel told Zechariah to name the child John, and said the birth of John was going to cause rejoicing and gladness, and John would be great in the eyes of the Lord, and would be filled with the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) while in Elizabeth's womb, and would bring many Israelites back to the Lord, and prepare people for the Lord. During the 6th month that elderly Elizabeth was carrying John the Baptist in her womb, the Lord God sent the angel Gabriel to Elizabeth's relative Mary, a virgin. The angel Gabriel said Mary was favored with grace, and the Lord was with Mary, and Mary was blessed among women. The angel Gabriel told Mary not to fear, and said Mary had favor with the Lord God, and Mary would give birth to a Son, and Mary was to name the Son Jesus, and Jesus, the Son of the Highest (the Most High) would be conceived of the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb. Joseph was the craftsman pledged to wed Mary. After Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in Mary's wound when Mary was a virgin, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph when Joseph was asleep and told Joseph, in a dream, not to be afraid to receive Mary as his wife, and explained that the child in Mary's womb was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and Joseph was to name the Son Jesus, and Jesus will save his people from their sins. Months after John the Baptist was born into the tribe of Levi to Zechariah and Elizabeth, Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, was born in Bethlehem into the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Judah's kings, to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin. On the 8th day after John the Baptist was born, he was circumcised, and on the 8th day after Jesus the Christ was born, Jesus was circumcised. During the 12th year after John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ were born, Joseph and Mary found Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem, listening asking, understanding, and answering. Approximately 30 years after John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ were born, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Jesus having prayed, the heavens tearing open, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and lit upon Jesus. The Lord God in heaven audibly acknowledged his Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert wilderness. Jesus fasted 40 days and nights and was tempted. Afterwards, Jesus was tended to by angels, and Jesus went to the area near John the Baptist, and John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, and testified that Jesus is the Son of God. In Galilee, Jesus told specific Israelite men to follow him, and Jesus began to preach, teach and perform miracles among the Israelites. Before Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary, and after Jesus was betrayed, arrested, crucified, buried in a tomb, resurrected, seen by over 500 people and taken up into heaven less than 3 1/2 years after he was baptized, the Roman Empire was ruling the land whereupon the kingdoms of the Israelites previously stood. Paul was from Tarsus, Cilicia, in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), the Anatolian peninsula in the western part of Asia, and was a Pharisee, and during that era did not believe Jesus to be the Christ. Throughout Jerusalem Paul persecuted and imprisoned Israelites who believed Jesus to be the Christ of God. When Paul was journeying to the synagogues in Damascus, Syria, to find, bind and take to Jerusalem any Israelite believers he found, Paul and those with him saw a light from heaven flash around them. Paul heard the voice of Jesus speaking to him, and Paul spoke to Jesus and obeyed Jesus. In Damascus Paul was baptized. From thenceforward, Paul the apostle journeyed and wrote divinely inspired letters teaching Israelites and Gentiles, people not born into the Israelite tribes, the good news of Jesus the Christ and everlasting life. Paul and Barnabas were in Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, when Paul proclaimed that a time of blindness be upon Bar-Jesus (Elymas), a false prophet magician. In Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas declared the word of the Lord to Israelites and Gentiles and were expelled from the region. Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and Judas Barsabas were together in Jerusalem before they were sent to Antioch. After a dispute between Paul and Barnabas, Paul took Silas with him to Syria, Cilicia, Derbe, Lystra, Phyrgia, Galatia, Troas, (Samothrace (Samothracia), Neapolis, and Philippi, Lydia and the women with her were praying on the Sabbath day and heard Paul's message. Lydia was baptized, and those in Lydia's household were baptized, and Lydia made a conditional plea for Paul and those with him to stay in her home. Another day, while going to pray, Paul commanded a spirit to come out of a fortune-telling girl, and the men who profited from the damsel dragged Paul and Silas to the rulers in the marketplace, and to the magistrates, and made claims about the customs Paul and Silas were preaching in a Roman province. The garments worn by Paul and Silas was torn off, and Paul and Silas were beaten, and cast into prison, and thrown into the inner prison, and their feet were put in wooden stocks.-Genesis, Exodus, Numbers 13:1-14:45, Deuteronomy 31:1-34:12, Joshua 1:1-4:24, 23:1-24:33, Judges 1:1-2:23, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra 1:1-11, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26, 6:1-8:4, 9:1-31, 11:19-28:31, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
Reference Information
bands = desma/desmos/deo = chains
privily = lathra = lanthano = secretly
serjeants = rhabdouchous = officers, rodbearers
Reference Scriptures
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.-Matthew 24:3-5...But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.-Matthew 24:13
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.-Mark 16:9...After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.-Mark 16:12...Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they say at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.-Mark 16:16
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.-John 10:7-9
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:-Acts 2:17...And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.-Acts 2:21
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.-Romans 10:9-10
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