Acts 19

¹ While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.

² He asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" "No," they replied, "we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

³ So he asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they answered.

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

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

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

⁷ There were about twelve men in all.

⁸ Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

⁹ But when some became stubborn and refused to believe, slandering the Way before the crowd, he left them, took the disciples with him, and held daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰ This went on for two years, so that all who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹ God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul,

¹² so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched his skin were taken to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.

¹³ Some Jewish exorcists who traveled around tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits. They would say, "I command you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches."

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

¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?"

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

¹⁷ This became known to all the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

¹⁸ Many of those who had believed now came, confessing and disclosing their practices.

¹⁹ A good number of those who had practiced magic brought their scrolls together and burned them in front of everyone. They added up the value of the scrolls and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰ So the word of the Lord kept spreading widely and growing in power.

²¹ After all this 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."

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

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

²⁴ A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen.

²⁵ He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: "Men, you know that we get our prosperity from this business.

²⁶ And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and led astray large numbers of people, saying that gods made by human hands are not gods at all.

²⁷ There is danger not only that our trade will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and that she herself, whom all Asia and the world worship, will be robbed of her majesty."

²⁸ When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

²⁹ The whole city was thrown into confusion. The people rushed all together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia.

³⁰ Paul wanted to go in before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him.

³¹ Even some of the officials of the province, who were friends of his, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater.

³² Meanwhile some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not even know why they had come together.

³³ The Jews pushed Alexander to the front, and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence with his hand, wanting to make a defense before the people.

³⁴ But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

³⁵ The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: "People of Ephesus, who in the world does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven?

³⁶ Since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be calm and do nothing rash.

³⁷ You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed our temple nor blasphemed our goddess.

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

³⁹ But if you want anything beyond that, it must be settled in a lawful assembly.

⁴⁰ As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today, since there is no good reason for it, and we would not be able to account for this commotion." After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

⁴¹ And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.