ActsChapter 19

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¹While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul went through the inland area and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. ²He asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" "No," they answered. "We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." ³"Then what baptism did you receive?" Paul asked. "John's baptism," they answered. ⁴Paul explained, "John's baptism was for people who repented. He told the people to believe in the One coming after him. That One is Jesus." ⁵When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶Paul placed his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came on them. They spoke in tongues and prophesied. ⁷There were about twelve men in all. ⁸Then Paul went into the synagogue. He spoke boldly there for three months. He tried to convince people about the kingdom of God. ⁹But some of them were stubborn. They refused to believe, and they said bad things about the Way in public. So Paul left the synagogue and took the disciples with him. Every day he taught and talked with people in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰This went on for two years. So everyone who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. Both Jews and Greeks heard it. ¹¹God did amazing miracles through Paul's hands. ¹²Even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick. Then their sicknesses left them, and evil spirits went out of them. ¹³Some Jews went from place to place driving out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over people who had evil spirits. They would say, "I command you by Jesus, the one Paul preaches about." ¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva were doing this. Sceva was a Jewish chief priest. ¹⁵But one day the evil spirit answered them, "I know Jesus, and I know about Paul. But who are you?" ¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them. He beat them all. He hurt them so badly that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. ¹⁷All the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus heard about this. They were all filled with fear. So the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored. ¹⁸Many who had believed now came forward. They openly told the wrong things they had done. ¹⁹Many who had practiced magic brought their books together. They burned them in front of everyone. They added up what the books were worth. The total was fifty thousand drachmas.a ²⁰So the word of the Lord kept spreading with power and growing strong. ²¹After all this, Paul decided in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. He planned to go through Macedonia and Achaia. "After I have been there," he said, "I must see Rome too." ²²He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia. But he stayed a while longer in the province of Asia. ²³About that time there was a big uproar about the Way. ²⁴It started with a silversmith named Demetrius. He made little silver shrines of the goddess Artemis. He brought a lot of business to the craftsmen. ²⁵Demetrius called the craftsmen together. He also called the workers in other trades like theirs. "Men," he said, "you know we make good money from this business. ²⁶You can see and hear what this Paul is doing. He has talked a great many people into turning away. He has done it not only in Ephesus, but in almost the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by hands are not gods at all. ²⁷There is danger that our business will get a bad name. And there is more. The temple of the great goddess Artemis will be thought of as nothing. She will lose her greatness. Yet all the province of Asia and the whole world worship her." ²⁸When the men heard this, they were very angry. They began to shout, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" ²⁹Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people rushed together into the theater. They dragged Gaius and Aristarchus with them. These men were from Macedonia and were traveling with Paul. ³⁰Paul wanted to go in and face the crowd. But the disciples would not let him. ³¹Some of Paul's friends were officials of the province of Asia. They sent him a message too. They begged him not to go into the theater. ³²The crowd was in confusion. Some were shouting one thing and some another. Most of them did not even know why they were there. ³³The Jews in the crowd pushed a man named Alexander to the front to explain. He waved his hand for quiet. He wanted to defend himself to the people. ³⁴But they found out he was a Jew. Then they all shouted together for about two hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" ³⁵At last the city clerk calmed the crowd. He said, "Men of Ephesus, everyone knows that Ephesus guards the temple of the great Artemis. Ephesus also guards her image that fell from heaven. ³⁶No one can say these things are not true. So you should be calm. Don't do anything foolish. ³⁷You have brought these men here. But they have not robbed our temple or spoken evil against our goddess. ³⁸Demetrius and his craftsmen may have a complaint against someone. If so, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. They can bring charges against each other there. ³⁹If you want anything more than this, it must be settled in a lawful meeting. ⁴⁰As it is, we are in danger of being charged with a riot because of today. We have no good reason to give for this uproar." ⁴¹After he said this, he sent the crowd away.