Paul and Silas in Philippi

Jul 17, 2026

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Paul and Silas travel to Philippi to proclaim Jesus and meet Lydia, a devout merchant who gathers with others by a riverside place of prayer. Lydia’s heart is opened to believe, and she and her family are baptized, inviting Paul and Silas to stay. They continue teaching and praying, but a slave girl possessed by a demon follows them and earns money for her masters by predicting the future. When Paul commands the demon to leave in Jesus’ name, the girl is freed, angering her owners who lose their source of income.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

Paul and Silas Arrive in Philippi

Lydia’s Conversion and Baptism

The Possessed Slave Girl’s Predictions

Paul Casts Out the Demon

Opposition from the Girl’s Owners

47. Paul and Silas in Philippi A Bible story from Acts 16:11-40 English Spiritual 47. Paul and Silas in Philippi Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community. Illustrations are © Sweet Publishing. English Copyright © 2015, unfolding Word | Open Bible Stories [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work, but you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. This work is a derivative of "Creative Commons Open Bible Stories" attributed to [unfoldingWord.org](unfoldingWord.org) used under CC BY SA 4.0. All included images originate from “Bible Images from Sweet Publishing” attributed to Sweet Publishing used under CC BY SA 3.0. As Saul traveled throughout the Roman Empire, he began to use his Roman name,“Paul.” One day, Paul and his friend Silas went to the town of Philippi to proclaim the good news about Jesus . They went to a place by the river outside the city where people gathered to pray. There they met a woman named Lydia who was a merchant. She loved and worshiped God. God opened Lydia’s heart to believe the message about Jesus, and she and her family were baptized. She invited Paul and Silas to stay at her house, so they stayed with her and her family. Paul and Silas often met with people atthe place of prayer . Every day as they walked there, a slave girl possessed by a demon followed them . By means of this demon she predicted the future for people, so she made a lot of money for her masters as a fortuneteller . The slave girl kept yelling as they walked,“These men are servants of the Most High God. They are telling you the way to be saved!” She did this so often that Paul became annoyed. Finally, one day when the slave girl started yelling, Paul turned to her and said to the demon that was in her,“In the name of Jesus, come out of her .”Right away the demon left her . The men who owned the slave girl became very angry! They realized that without the demon, the slave girl could not tell people the future . This meant that people would no longer pay her owners money so that she would tell them what would happen to them .

FAQs

Who are Paul and Silas, and why do they go to Philippi?

Paul and Silas go to Philippi to proclaim the good news about Jesus. They go to a place by the river where people gather to pray.

What happens to Lydia after she hears the message about Jesus?

God opens Lydia’s heart to believe. Lydia and her family are baptized, and she invites Paul and Silas to stay at her house.

What is the slave girl doing, and why does it cause problems?

A demon-possessed slave girl follows Paul and Silas and predicts people’s futures, making money for her owners as a fortuneteller. Her repeated shouting annoys Paul.

How does the story end for the slave girl and her owners?

Paul commands the demon in Jesus’ name to come out, and the demon leaves her immediately. The slave girl’s owners become angry because, without the demon, she can no longer predict the future and their income stops.

Jul 17, 2026

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