Philippi.

_Flogging and Prison._

As Paul and his friends walked about in the city they talked with
people; for instance, with a woman called Lydia, who also had come
across the sea from Asia Minor where she was born. She and her
children and slaves all became Christians. So the men and women of
Philippi soon began to talk about these strange teachers from the
East. One day Paul and Silas met a slave girl dressed in a flowing,
coloured tunic. She was a fortune-teller, who earned money for her
masters by looking at people and trying to see at a glance what they
were like so that she might tell their fortunes. The fortune-telling
girl saw Paul and Silas going along, and she stopped and called out
loud so that everyone who went by might hear: "These men are the
slaves of the Most High God. They tell you the way of Salvation."

The people stood and gaped with astonishment, and still the girl
called out the same thing, until a crowd began to come round. Then
Paul turned round and with sternness in his voice spoke to the evil
spirit in the girl and said: "In the Name of Jesus Christ, I order you
out of her."

From that day the girl lost her power to tell people's fortunes, so
that the money that used to come to her masters stopped flowing. They
were very angry and stirred up everybody to attack Paul and Silas. A
mob collected and searched through the streets until they found them.
Then they clutched hold of their arms and robes, shouting: "To the
prætors! To the prætors!" The prætors were great officials who sat in
marble chairs in the Forum, the central square of the city.