Bible Strands
Acts 16:17
This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — A slave girl with a spirit of divination shouts after Paul and his companions as they walk toward the place of prayer in Philippi, addressing the surrounding crowd.
The words — κατακολουθοῦσα (katakolouthousa), "having followed closely," carries the prefix κατα- implying persistent, clinging pursuit rather than casual accompaniment. ἔκραζεν (ekrazen), "was crying out," marks a loud, forceful vocalization directed outward.
The thread — "Servants of the Most High God" echoes the demon-possessed man's address to Jesus in Mark 5:7; "the way of salvation" resonates with John 14:6's exclusive claim.
Why it lands — The content is correct and the source is compromised; Paul's response in the next verse treats the spirit, not the words, as the problem. The reader is left to weigh whether truth spoken through a possessed slave carries the same authority as truth spoken freely.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
Cross-references
- John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- 1 Peter 2:16 Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
- Mark 5:7 And he shouted in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God not to torture me!”
- Daniel 6:20 When he reached the den, he cried out in a voice of anguish, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
- Daniel 3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the blazing fiery furnace and called out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire,
- Daniel 3:28 Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
- Psalms 57:2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me.
- Jonah 1:9 “I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah. “I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
- Luke 1:79 to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
- Luke 4:34 “Ha! What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”