Acts 16:35–40

³⁵ And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go.” ³⁶ So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.” ³⁷ But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.” ³⁸ And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. ³⁹ Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. ⁴⁰ So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. 

Commentary 

Vs. 35-36 ³⁵ And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go.” ³⁶ So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.” 

Now when morning dawned and the magistrate’s heels had now cooled, they sent officers to the keeper of the prison telling him to now release Paul and Silas, saying, “Let those men go.” (vs. 35). Therefore, the keeper of prison when he reported these words to Paul, told him that he could now depart in peace (vs. 36). 

Vs. 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.” 

However, the Apostle Paul knowing how wrongly they had been treated, and being themselves Roman citizens which gave them inherent rights and protections under the law, though they were Jews by birth, refused to now silently depart as if no wrong had been done to them. Now this action on their part is not unique to them, for time and again when lawful authority abuses its authority, we very often see the same things done, releasing one unjustly imprisoned or mistreated, so as to cover their own unjust actions. 

Vs. 38 “And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans.” 

Now when the officers reported the words of Paul to the magistrates, they became very afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Romans. For they knew what they had done to Paul and Silas would be done many more times severely to them, for their beating and detaining, and thus mistreating two uncondemned Roman citizens like that. 

Vs. 39-40 ³⁹ Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. ⁴⁰ So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. 

And so, the magistrates now fearing for their own safety, come directly to Paul and Silas, and they themselves bring them out of the prison, which would’ve been of no small significance to all those who would have observed this, while also hearing them publicly pleading with Paul and Silas to depart from their city. Therefore, Paul and Silas with their innocence restored and their dignity intact, they now before departing return to the house of Lydia where their evangelist meetings first bore fruit, and having seen her and those who believed with her, they encouraged the brethren before departing from that city. 

Scripture Quotations 

            New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.