Acts 19

19 ¹While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul crossed the inland region and reached Ephesus, where he found some disciples. ²He asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They replied, "No, we haven't even heard there is a Holy Spirit."

³So he asked, "Into what then were you baptized?" "Into John's baptism," they said.

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

⁵On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶When Paul laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them; they spoke in tongues and prophesied. ⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸Paul entered the synagogue, speaking boldly three months, reasoning and persuading about our Father's kingdom. ⁹When some grew stubborn, refusing to believe and slandering the Way before the crowd, he withdrew from them, took the disciples, and reasoned daily in Tyrannus's lecture hall. ¹⁰This continued two years, so all living in Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord Jesus.

¹¹Our Father did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul, ¹²so even handkerchiefs and aprons that touched his skin were carried to the sick, and diseases left them and evil spirits went out of them.

¹³Some traveling Jewish exorcists also tried invoking the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits, saying, "I command you by the Jesus Paul preaches." ¹⁴Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

¹⁵But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" ¹⁶And the man who had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷All Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus learned of this. Fear seized them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was highly praised. ¹⁸Many of those who had become believers also came, confessing and disclosing their practices. ¹⁹Many who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them before everyone. They added up the price and found it worth 50,000 days' wages. ^a a v19 Each piece of silver was a drachma — roughly a day's wage for a laborer. The burned scrolls were worth about fifty thousand days' wages. ²⁰So the word of the Lord Jesus continued to grow mightily and prevail.

²¹When this was done, Paul decided in his spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia to Jerusalem, saying, "After I've been there, I must see Rome too." ²²He sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while staying in Asia himself a while longer. ²³About that time there arose a serious disturbance concerning the Way. ²⁴For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, kept many craftsmen busy. ^b b v24 Artemis of Ephesus was the city's great mother-goddess. Her temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and the heart of the city's economy. ²⁵He gathered them and workers in similar trades and said, "Men, you know our wealth comes from this trade. ²⁶You see and hear that this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people—not only in Ephesus but nearly all of Asia—telling them gods made by hands aren't gods at all. ²⁷The risk isn't just that our trade loses its good name, but that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will count for nothing, and she, worshiped by all Asia and the world, will be stripped of her greatness."

²⁸Hearing this, they were enraged and shouted, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" ²⁹The city filled with confusion; together they rushed into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's traveling companions. ³⁰When Paul wanted to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. ³¹Even some officials of the province, his friends, sent word urging him not to risk entering the theater. ³²Meanwhile some shouted one thing, others another—the assembly was in confusion, and most didn't know why they'd gathered. ³³Some in the crowd coached Alexander, whom the Jews pushed forward; motioning with his hand, he wanted to defend himself before the people. ³⁴Realizing he was a Jew, they shouted as one for about two hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

³⁵When the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, who doesn't know the Ephesians' city is temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the image that fell from heaven? ^c c v35 Many believed this sacred object was a meteorite that had fallen from the sky — taken as proof of Artemis's favor on the city. ³⁶Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to keep calm and do nothing rash. ³⁷For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. ³⁸So if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a charge against anyone, courts are in session and proconsuls are available—let them accuse each other there. ³⁹But if you are seeking anything further, it will be settled in the regular assembly. ⁴⁰We risk being charged with today's riot, since we have no reason to justify this uproar." ⁴¹And when he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.