Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Acts 16:40 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 40. 40And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Returns Paul and Silas to Lydia's house to encourage believers before leaving.
Read It With
- Acts 16:35–16:40
Read Acts 16:40 with 16:35–16:40. In isolation, this contribution—returns Paul and Silas to Lydia's house to encourage believers before leaving—can be mistaken for the scene's whole claim, detached from its speaker or narrator, or separated from its outcome. The complete unit establishes: When magistrates order quiet release, Paul invokes Roman citizenship and the illegality of uncondemned public beating; the officials apologize, escort the missionaries out, and the team encourages Lydia's household before leaving.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Returns Paul and Silas to Lydia's house to encourage believers before leaving. This precise contribution belongs inside “Paul demands public accountability before departure” because When magistrates order quiet release, Paul invokes Roman citizenship and the illegality of uncondemned public beating; the officials apologize, escort the missionaries out, and the team encourages Lydia's household before leaving.
What Remains True
Acts 16:40's particular contribution—returns Paul and Silas to Lydia's house to encourage believers before leaving—shows that faithful witness remains accountable to the verse's speaker, narrated setting, affected people, and the complete movement of Acts 16:35–16:40.
How It Can Shape Life
- Practice Acts 16:40's particular contribution—returns Paul and Silas to Lydia's house to encourage believers before leaving—through this passage-controlled response: Use legal standing to expose public wrongdoing and protect others, while avoiding revenge or the assumption that every believer shares Paul's citizenship remedies.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Acts 16:35–16:40 — Paul demands public accountability before departureSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 16:35–16:40, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 16:35-16:40
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 16:35-16:40
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 16:35–16:40
Open source ↗