Bible Strands
Acts 16:24
On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator describes a jailer executing a direct order from his Roman superiors to secure Paul and Silas in the inner cell after they were beaten. This action occurs immediately following the magistrates' command to imprison them and the jailer's subsequent assignment to guard them securely.
The words — λαβὼν (labōn) means "having received" and παραγγελίαν (parangelian) means "an order," showing the jailer acted on explicit command. ἔβαλεν (ebalen) literally translates to "threw," indicating the forceful placement of the prisoners into the inner cell.
The thread — The text places feet in stocks in Job 13:27 and Job 33:11 to describe divine restraint and watchfulness over human paths. Jeremiah 29:26 also references stocks within a judicial framework, though applied to a different historical figure.
Why it lands — The passage records the physical escalation of confinement and the explicit command to fasten the prisoners, highlighting the severity of their detention. It asks a reader to note the concrete reality of their suffering before the narrative shifts to their midnight response.
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
Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
Cross-references
- Job 13:27 You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet.
- Job 33:11 He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches over all my paths.’
- Jeremiah 29:26 ‘The LORD has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada, to be the chief officer in the house of the LORD, responsible for any madman who acts like a prophet—you must put him in stocks and neck irons.
- Jeremiah 38:26 then tell them, ‘I was presenting to the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”
- 1 Kings 22:27 and tell them that this is what the king says: ‘Put this man in prison and feed him only bread and water until I return safely.’”
- 2 Chronicles 16:10 Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.
- Psalms 105:18 They bruised his feet with shackles and placed his neck in irons,
- Jeremiah 20:2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 37:15 The officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.
- Lamentations 3:53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.