1And it happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul, after passing through the upper regions, came 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 that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3And he said, “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.”
5When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
6And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they were speaking in tongues and prophesying.
7There were about twelve men in all.
8And he entered the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.
9But when some became hardened and disbelieved, speaking evil of the Way before the crowd, he withdrew from them and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
10This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.
11And God was performing extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul,
12so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.
13Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
14Seven sons of a certain Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
15But the evil spirit answered and said to them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize; but who are you?”
16And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overpowering both of them, he prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17This became known to all the Jews and Greeks living 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 practices.
19And many of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they calculated their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.
20So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
21Now when these things were accomplished, Paul resolved in the spirit to go to Jerusalem after passing through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
22And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.
23About that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the Way.
24For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.
25He gathered these together with the workmen in similar trades and said, “Men, you know that from this business we get 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 considerable crowd, saying that gods made by hands are not gods.
27And there is danger not only that this trade of ours will come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as nothing, and that she will be deposed from her magnificence—she whom all Asia and the world worship.
28When they heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
29So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, seizing Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions.
30And when Paul wanted to enter the assembly, the disciples would not let him.
31Even some of the Asiarchs, who were his friends, sent to him and pleaded with him not to venture into the theater.
32So some were shouting one thing and others another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority did not know why they had come together.
33And from the crowd they brought Alexander forward, the Jews having put him forward. But Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the people.
34But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single voice arose from all of them, shouting for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35After the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the image that fell from heaven?”
36Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you ought to be calm and do nothing rash.
37For you have brought these men here, who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.
38If, therefore, Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a case against anyone, the courts are in session and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.
39But if you are seeking anything beyond this, it will be settled in the lawful assembly.
40For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no reason for it, and we will not be able to give an account for this commotion.
41And after saying these things, he dismissed the assembly.
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