Acts 16:18 (LSB)

Passage

And she continued doing this for many days. But being greatly annoyed, Paul turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to leave her!” And it left at that very moment.

Nearby Context

Acts 16:16 Now it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a servant-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

Acts 16:17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”

Acts 16:18 And she continued doing this for many days. But being greatly annoyed, Paul turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to leave her!” And it left at that very moment.

Acts 16:19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit had left, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities,

Acts 16:20 and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "Spirit", "continued", "doing", "days", "greatly", "annoyed", "paul", and "turned". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "Spirit" and "continued", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Following after Paul and us she kept..." into verse 19's "But when her masters saw that their...", so "Spirit" and "continued" 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 "Spirit" and "continued" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.