Acts 19

¹Now it happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul, having passed through the inland regions, came down to Ephesus and found some disciples,

²And he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said to him, No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.

³And he said to them, ’Into what then were you baptized?’ And they said, ’Into John’s baptism.’

⁴And Paul said, ’John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’

⁵And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.

⁷Now there were in all about twelve men.

⁸And entering the synagogue, he spoke boldly for three months, discoursing and persuading them about the things concerning the kingdom of God.

⁹But when some became hardened and refused to believe, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and set apart the disciples, reasoning daily in the lecture hall of a certain Tyrannus.

¹⁰And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹And God was working no ordinary miracles through the hands of Paul,

¹²so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his skin to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.

¹³But some also of the itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those having evil spirits, saying, ’I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul proclaims.’

¹⁴Now there were seven sons of a certain Sceva, a Jewish high priest, who were doing this.

¹⁵But the evil spirit answered and said to them, ’Jesus I know, and Paul I am acquainted with; but you—who are you?’

¹⁶And the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaping on them and overpowering all of them, prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who dwelt in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

¹⁸And many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their deeds.

¹⁹And many of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them before all; and they counted up the prices of them and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰So mightily the word of the Lord kept growing and prevailing.

²¹Now when these things were completed, Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.

²²And having sent into Macedonia two of those ministering to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed for a time in Asia.

²³Now at that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the Way.

²⁴For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, making silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing the craftsmen no little business.

²⁵These he gathered together, along with the workmen engaged in such trades, and said, Men, you know that from this business comes our prosperity.

²⁶And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a large crowd, saying that gods made by hands are not gods.

²⁷And not only is there danger that this trade of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be reckoned as nothing, and that she whom all Asia and the world worship may even be stripped of her magnificence.

²⁸And when they heard this and became filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!

²⁹And the whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, fellow travelers of Paul.

³⁰But when Paul wanted to go in to the assembly, the disciples would not let him.

³¹And some also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent to him and were urging him not to venture himself into the theater.

³²So then some were shouting one thing and some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority did not know why they had come together.

³³And some of the crowd instructed Alexander, the Jews pushing him forward; and Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the assembly.

³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, there arose one cry from them all, as for about two hours they shouted, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!

³⁵And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he says, ’Men of Ephesus, for what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great goddess Artemis and of that which fell from heaven?

³⁶Since therefore these things cannot be denied, it is necessary for you to be calm and to do nothing rash.

³⁷For you have brought these men here, who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

³⁸If then Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are in session and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges against one another.

³⁹But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the lawful assembly.

⁴⁰For indeed we are in danger of being charged with rioting over today, there being no cause for which we will be able to give an account concerning this commotion.