Acts 16:14-40

"But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas ..." (v19). Preaching a new religion was one thing, but interfering with someone's ability to make money was intolerable. Paul and Silas might have been ignored, had they not set a possessed slave-girl free. For that, they were beaten and thrown into jail. God used the crisis to bring many to salvation (v31), and the apostles were set free.

Paul and Silas undermined a corrupt business that profited by hurting the weak. Jesus came to "set free those who are downtrodden" (Luke 4:18).