Bible Strands
Acts 16:30
Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Philippian jailer, having just witnessed an earthquake and realized the prisoners are unharmed, brings Paul and Silas outside in the dark to ask them a desperate question.
The words — προαγαγὼν (proagagōn) translates as “having brought out,” and κύριοι (kurioi) means “Sirs,” marking the jailer’s shift from jailer to supplicant.
The thread — The jailer’s plea echoes the repentant crowds in Acts 2:37 who asked Peter what they must do, and the multitudes in Luke 3:10 who similarly requested instructions for righteous living.
Why it lands — The verse demands a direct response to the question of salvation by forcing the reader to confront the exact words Paul and Silas will use to answer it in the next verse.
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
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Cross-references
- John 6:27 Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
- Acts 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
- Luke 3:10 The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?”
- Acts 22:10 Then I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ ‘Get up and go into Damascus,’ He told me. ‘There you will be told all that you have been appointed to do.’
- Isaiah 58:9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,
- Matthew 3:8 Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.
- Acts 14:15 “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.
- James 2:13 For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Job 25:4 How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
- Acts 9:6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”