Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 16:36

"And the jailor reported the words to Paul, [saying], The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore come forth, and go in peace." — Acts 16:36 (ASV)

In the morning the magistrates sent the officers to the prison with an order to release the two vagabond Jews. They had probably only wanted to teach them a lesson about the peril of disturbing the peace in a Roman colony and felt that a public flogging and a night in the city’s jail would be sufficient to do that. So they ordered the jailer to release Paul and Silas.