Acts 19

¹While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the interior [and] came to Ephesus. [There] he found some disciples

²and asked them, “Did you receive [the] Holy Spirit when you became believers?”“No,” [they answered], “we have not even heard that there is [a] Holy Spirit.”

³“Into what, then, were you baptized?” [Paul] asked. “The baptism of John,” they replied.

⁴Paul explained: “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the [One] coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

⁵On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶And [when] Paul laid [his] hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸Then [Paul] went into the synagogue [and] spoke boldly [there] for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.

⁹But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe [and] publicly maligned the Way, [Paul] took [his] disciples [and] left [the synagogue] to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This continued for two years, so that everyone who lived in [the province of] Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul,

¹²so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.

¹³Now [there were] some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, “I command you [by] Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.”

¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

¹⁵But [one day] the evil spirit responded, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

¹⁶Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them [and] overpowered them all. The attack was so violent that they ran out of the house naked and wounded.

¹⁷This became known to all the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, and fear came over all of them. [So] the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

¹⁸Many who had believed now came forward, confessing and disclosing their deeds.

¹⁹And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought [their] books [and] burned [them] in front of everyone. [When] the value of [the books] was calculated, [the total came to] fifty thousand drachmas.

²⁰So the word of the Lord powerfully continued to spread and prevail.

²¹After these things had happened, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well.”

²²He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, [while] he stayed for a time in [the province of] Asia.

²³About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.

²⁴[ It began with] a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis, bringing much business to the craftsmen.

²⁵[Demetrius] assembled [the craftsmen], along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our [source of] prosperity.

²⁶And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole [province of] Asia, this Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made [gods] are no gods [at all].

²⁷[There is] danger not only [that] our business will fall into disrepute, but also [that] the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and her majesty deposed — [she] who is worshiped by all [ the province of ] Asia and the [whole] world.”

²⁸[When] [the men] heard [this], they were enraged [and] began shouting, “Great [is] Artemis of [the] Ephesians!”

²⁹[Soon] the whole city was in disarray. They rushed together into the theatre, dragging with [them] Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

³⁰Paul wanted to go before the assembly, [but] the disciples would not allow him.

³¹Even some of [Paul’s] friends who were officials of [the province of] Asia sent word to him, begging him not to venture into the theatre.

³²Meanwhile the assembly was in turmoil. Some were shouting one thing [and some another], and most [of them] did not [even] know why they were there.

³³The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander {forward} to explain himself, and [he] motioned for silence so he could make [his] defense to the people.

³⁴But when they realized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great [is] Artemis of [the] Ephesians!”

³⁵Finally the city clerk quieted the crowd [and] declared, “Men [of] Ephesus, doesn’t [everyone] know that the city of Ephesus is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of [her image], which fell from heaven?

³⁶Since these things are undeniable, you ought to be calm and not do anything rash.

³⁷For you have brought these men {here}, [though they have] neither robbed [our] temple nor blasphemed our goddess.

³⁸So if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a complaint against anyone, [the] courts are open and proconsuls are available. Let them bring charges against one another [ there ].

³⁹But if you are seeking anything beyond this, it must be settled in a legal assembly.

⁴⁰For we are in jeopardy of being charged with rioting for today’s [events], [and] we have no justification to account for this commotion.”

⁴¹[After] he had said [this], he dismissed the assembly.