Acts 16:13 (LSB)

Passage

And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and sitting down, we began speaking to the women who had assembled.

Nearby Context

Acts 16:11 So setting sail from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;

Acts 16:12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days.

Acts 16:13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and sitting down, we began speaking to the women who had assembled.

Acts 16:14 And a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening, whose heart the Lord opened to pay attention to the things spoken by Paul.

Acts 16:15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "sabbath", "went", "outside", "gate", "riverside", "where", "supposing", and "place". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sabbath" and "went", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "and from there to Philippi which is..." into verse 14's "And a woman named Lydia from the...", so "sabbath" and "went" belong inside that flow. In Acts context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "sabbath" and "went" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.