Songs at Midnight

The Story

In the city of Philippi, Paul and Silas freed a slave girl from an evil spirit that had made her a fortune-teller. Her owners were furious, because their source of income was gone. They dragged the two men before the city officials, stirred up a crowd, and had them stripped, beaten with rods, and thrown into the inner prison with their feet locked in stocks.

At midnight, bruised and bleeding, Paul and Silas did something unexpected. They prayed and sang hymns to God. And the other prisoners were listening.

Suddenly a great earthquake shook the prison to its foundations. Every door flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, saw the open doors, and drew his sword to kill himself, sure his prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.”

No one had run. The trembling jailer fell down before Paul and Silas and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” That same night, he washed their wounds, and he and his whole household were baptized.

Reflection