And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God, х proseuchomenoi (G4336) humnoun (G5214) ton (G3588) Theon (G2316)] - 'as they prayed,' or 'kept singing praises unto God;' that is, while engaged in pouring out their hearts in prayer, had broken forth into singing, and were hymning loud their joy. As the word here employed х humnoun (G5214)] is that used to denote the Paschal hymn sung by our Lord and His disciples after their last Passover (Matthew 26:30), and which we know to have consisted of Psalms 113:1-9; Psalms 114:1-8; Psalms 115:1-18; Psalms 116:1-19; Psalms 117:1-2; Psalms 118:1-29, which was chanted at that festival, it may have been portions of the psalms-so rich in such matter-which our joyous sufferers chanted forth. Nor could any be more seasonable and inspiring to them than those very six psalms, which every devout Jew would no doubt have by heart. "He giveth songs in the night" (Job 35:10). Though their bodies were still bleeding and tortured in the stocks, their spirits, under 'the expulsive power of a new affection,' rose above suffering, and made the prison walls resound with their song. 'In these midnight hymns (says Neander), by the imprisoned witnesses for Jesus Christ, the whole might of Roman injustice and violence against the Church is not only set at nought, but converted into a foil to set forth more completely the majesty and spiritual power of the Church, which as yet the world knew nothing of. And if the sufferings of these two witnesses for Christ are the beginning and the type of numberless martyrdoms which were to flow upon the Church from the same source, in like manner the unparalleled triumph of the spirit over suffering was the beginning and the pledge of a spiritual power which we afterward see shining forth so triumphantly and irresistibly in the many martyrs of Christ who were given up as a prey to that same imperial might of Rome.'
And the prisoners heard them, х epeekrooonto (G1874)] - 'kept listening to them,' so that the prisoners, instead of being asleep, were wide awake, and, no doubt, rapt in wonder at what they heard in such circumstances.