Lydia

By the River

While Paul and his companions were at Troas, “A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him and saying, ‘Come over into Macedonia and help us’” (Acts 16:9). So they set sail and crossed over, and came “to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony” (Acts 16:12).

“On the Sabbath day we went outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together” (Acts 16:13). “A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us. The Lord opened her heart to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14).

“When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.’ So she persuaded us” (Acts 16:15). These things are in Lesson 1.

Her House

Later, in Philippi, Paul and Silas were put in prison; what happened in between is in Paul, Lesson 5. “They went out of the prison and entered into Lydia’s house. When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, then departed” (Acts 16:40).

After this, the New Testament does not mention her name again.