Paul in Ephesus
1And it happened that while tApollos was at Corinth, Paul passed uthrough the inland1 country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2And he said to them, v“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, wwe have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3And he said, x“Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into yJohn's baptism.” 4And Paul said, y“John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people zto believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5On hearing this, athey were baptized in2 the name of the Lord Jesus. 6And bwhen Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and cthey began speaking in tongues and dprophesying. 7There were about twelve men in all.
8And ehe entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them fabout the kingdom of God. 9gBut when some became stubborn and hcontinued in unbelief, speaking evil of ithe Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.3 10This continued for jtwo years, so that kall the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
The Sons of Sceva
11And lGod was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12lso that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and mthe evil spirits came out of them. 13Then some of the itinerant Jewish nexorcists oundertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, p“I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15But the evil spirit answered them, q“Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all4 of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and rthe name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18Also many of those who were now believers came, sconfessing and divulging their practices. 19And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20So the word of the Lord tcontinued to increase and prevail mightily.
A Riot at Ephesus
21Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit uto pass through vMacedonia and Achaia and wgo to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, xI must also see Rome.” 22And having sent into Macedonia two of yhis helpers, zTimothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia afor a while.
23About that time bthere arose no little disturbance concerning cthe Way. 24For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, dbrought no little business to the craftsmen. 25dThese he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. 26And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, esaying that fgods made with hands are not gods. 27And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the ggreat goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”
28When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, g“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and hAristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's icompanions in travel. 30But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. 31And even some of the Asiarchs,5 who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. 32jNow some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, kmotioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. 34But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, l“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from mthe sky?6 36Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37For you have brought nthese men here who are neither osacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are pproconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. 39But if you seek anything further,7 it shall be settled in the regular assembly. 40For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” 41And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.
Footnotes
- 1 19:1 Greek upper (that is, highland)
- 2 19:5 Or into
- 3 19:9 Some manuscripts add from the fifth hour to the tenth (that is, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
- 4 19:16 Or both
- 5 19:31 That is, high-ranking officers of the province of Asia
- 6 19:35 The meaning of the Greek is uncertain
- 7 19:39 Some manuscripts seek about other matters
Reaching the City for Christ
Acts 19:8–20 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 34:44 • ID: 1527For the Sake of the Gospel, Volume 1
Acts 19:1–41, Acts 20:1–38, Acts 21:1–40, Acts 22:1–30 Series • ID: 25204Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.