So they came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city.
Parallel translations
- WEB and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city.
- KJV And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.
- BSB They came to appease them and led them out, requesting that they leave the city.
- NKJV Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city.
- NASB and they came and pleaded with them, and when they had led them out, they repeatedly asked them to leave the city.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The magistrates came, apologized, and respectfully asked Paul and Silas to leave the city.
Overview
The officials who had ordered a public beating now personally appeal to the prisoners. The reversal vindicates Paul and Silas and establishes that the gospel is no criminal enterprise. Their request to depart, however, reveals lingering fear of the crowd, while the church they planted would remain and flourish.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Matt 8:34Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.
- Dan 6:23Then was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
- Mark 5:17They began to beg him to depart from their region.
- Isa 60:14The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you; and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet. They will call you Yahweh’s City, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
- Dan 6:16Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.
- Mic 7:9–10I will bear the indignation of Yahweh, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light. I will see his righteousness.
- Exod 11:8All these servants of yours will come down to me, and bow down themselves to me, saying, “Get out, with all the people who follow you”; and after that I will go out.’” He went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.
- Isa 49:23Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; Then you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.”
- Isa 45:14Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains; and they will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.
- Rev 3:9Behold, I give some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 16:39 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.