Acts 19

1While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples.

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

3He said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism."

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

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

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

7And they were all men, about twelve.

8He entered the synagogue and spoke fearlessly for three months, reasoning and convincing about the kingdom of God.

9But when some were hardened and disobedient, maligning the way before the crowd, he withdrew from them, separated the disciples, and reasoned daily in the school of Tyrannus.

10This lasted two years, so that all the inhabitants of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

11And God worked extraordinary powers through Paul's hands.

12So that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out.

13But some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried calling on the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims."

14There were seven sons of a certain Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who were doing this.

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

16And the man in whom the evil spirit was sprang upon them, subdued both, and prevailed against them, so that they escaped naked and wounded from that house.

17This became known to all Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, fear seized every one of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was exalted.

18Many of those who had believed came too, confessing and reporting their deeds.

19Many who had practiced curious arts brought their books together and burned them before everyone; they also reckoned up their prices and found the total fifty thousand pieces of silver.

20So with the power of the Lord, the word grew and prevailed.

21When these things were completed, Paul resolved in the spirit, after passing through Macedonia and Achaia, to journey to Jerusalem, saying that after what happens to me there, I must also see Rome.

22He sent Timothy and Erastus, two who served him, to Macedonia, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time.

23Around that time a considerable disturbance arose about the Way.

24For a certain silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was supplying considerable profit to the craftsmen.

25He gathered them together with the workers engaged in similar trades and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this business."

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

27Not only is this business of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Artemis is about to be counted as nothing, and even her magnificence about to be cast down, whom all Asia and the world worship.

28When they heard this and became full of wrath, they cried out, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

29The city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's traveling companions.

30But when Paul wanted to enter the crowd, the disciples would not let him.

31Certain of the chiefs of Asia, his friends, sent to him and urged him not to risk himself in the theater.

32Some therefore cried one thing, others another, for the assembly was confused, and most did not know why they had come together.

33The Jews, thrusting Alexander forward, brought him out of the crowd. But Alexander motioned with his hand, wanting to defend himself to the people.

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

35After quieting the crowd, the town clerk said, "Men of Ephesus, who among people fails to recognize that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian for the great Artemis and for the sky-fallen image?"

36Therefore, these things being irrefutable, it is necessary for you to remain appeased and to do nothing reckless.

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

38If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a grievance against anyone, courts are in session and proconsuls serve; let them accuse one another.

39But if you seek anything further, it will be decided in the lawful assembly.

40For we are in danger of being accused of this day's sedition, there being no cause whatsoever concerning which we will not be able to give an account of this tumult, and having said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

41When he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.