Kisah Para Rasul 16:24-25

16:24 Receiving such orders, he threw them in the inner cell ¹  and fastened their feet in the stocks. ² 

16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying ³  and singing hymns to God, ⁴  and the rest of ⁵  the prisoners were listening to them.

[16:24]  ¹ tn Or “prison.”

[16:24]  ² tn L&N 6.21 has “stocks” for εἰς τὸ ξύλον (ei" to xulon) here, as does BDAG 685 s.v. ξύλον 2.b. However, it is also possible (as mentioned in L&N 18.12) that this does not mean “stocks” but a block of wood (a log or wooden column) in the prison to which prisoners’ feet were chained or tied. Such a possibility is suggested by v. 26, where the “bonds” (“chains”?) of the prisoners loosened.

[16:25]  ³ tn Grk “praying, were singing.” The participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[16:25]  ⁴ sn Praying and singing hymns to God. Tertullian said, “The legs feel nothing in the stocks when the heart is in heaven” (To the Martyrs 2; cf. Rom 5:3; Jas 1:2; 1 Pet 5:6). The presence of God means the potential to be free (cf. v. 26).

[16:25]  ⁵ tn The words “the rest of” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.