Acts 16:23
What does Acts 16:23 mean?
A plain-English look at Acts 16:23 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Acts 16:23 means
After many stripes are inflicted, Paul and Silas are thrown into prison with strict orders for secure custody. The emphasis on “many” highlights the brutality endured for the gospel. Officials attempt to bury the issue by burying the messengers. Yet chains cannot bind the word of God. Suffering often becomes the platform for God’s unexpected work. The human intent is to silence; the divine intent is to save—even the keeper of the prison. The command to keep them safely reflects fear of further disturbance, but God will turn this “security” into a stage for grace. Faithfulness sometimes leads into deeper confinement before deliverance dawns.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
KJV
King James Version · 1611And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And when they had given them a great number of blows, they put them in prison, giving orders to the keeper of the prison to keep them safely:
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862many blows also having laid upon them, they cast them to prison, having given charge to the jailor to keep them safely,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the gaoler to keep them diligently.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And having laid many stripes upon them they cast [them] into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely;
Context
This verse intensifies the punishment introduced in verse 22. The jailor’s role becomes central in verse 24, where he places them in the inner prison and fastens their feet in the stocks. The harsh conditions prepare for the remarkable response of Paul and Silas—prayer and praise at midnight (verse 25)—which becomes the catalyst for a dramatic divine intervention (verse 26).
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Acts 5:23
saying, The prison-house we found shut in all safety, and the keepers standing at the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.
- Ephesians 3:1
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles,—
- Matthew 26:48
Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he: take him.
- Revelation 1:9
I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patiencewhich arein Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
- Ephesians 4:1
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
- Philemon 1:9
yet for love’s sake I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also of Christ Jesus:
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