Acts 19 (New American Standard)

Paul at Ephesus

1 It happened that while ¹Apollos was at ²Corinth, Paul passed through the ³upper country and came to ⁴Ephesus, and found some disciples. 2 He said to them, "⁵Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed ?" And they said to him, "No, ⁶we have not even heard whether ^athere is a Holy Spirit." 3 And he said, "Into what then were you baptized ?" And they said, "⁷Into John's baptism." 4 Paul said, "⁸John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people ⁹to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 When they heard this, they were ¹⁰baptized ^bin the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had ¹¹laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began ¹²speaking with tongues and ¹³prophesying. 7 There were in all about twelve men. 8 And he entered ¹⁴the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them ¹⁵about the kingdom of God. 9 But when ¹⁶some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of ¹⁷the Way before the ^cpeople, he withdrew from them and took away ¹⁸the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 This took place for ¹⁹two years, so that all who lived in ^d20Asia heard ²¹the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Miracles at Ephesus

11 God was performing ²²extraordinary ^emiracles by the hands of Paul, 12 ²³so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and ²⁴the evil spirits went out. 13 But also some of the Jewish ²⁵exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches." 14 Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in ²⁶Ephesus ; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. 18 Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. 19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone ; and they counted up the price of them and found it ^ffifty thousand ²⁷pieces of silver. 20 So ^g28the word of the Lord ²⁹was growing mightily and prevailing. 21 Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the ^hSpirit to ³⁰go to Jerusalem ³¹after he had passed through ³²Macedonia and ³³Achaia, saying, "After I have been there, ³⁴I must also see Rome." 22 And having sent into ³⁵Macedonia two of ³⁶those who ministered to him, ³⁷Timothy and ³⁸Erastus, he himself stayed in ⁱ³⁹Asia for a while. 23 About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning ⁴⁰the Way. 24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of ^jArtemis, ⁴¹was bringing no little ^kbusiness to the craftsmen ; 25 these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity ^ldepends upon this business. 26 "You see and hear that not only in ⁴²Ephesus, but in almost all of ^m43Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that ⁿ⁴⁴gods made with hands are no gods at all. 27 "Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess ^oArtemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of ^p45Asia and ⁴⁶the ^qworld worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence." 28 When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, "Great is ^rArtemis of the ⁴⁷Ephesians !" 29 The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed ^swith one accord into the theater, dragging along ⁴⁸Gaius and ⁴⁹Aristarchus, Paul's traveling ⁵⁰companions from ⁵¹Macedonia. 30 And when Paul wanted to go into the ^tassembly, ⁵²the disciples would not let him. 31 Also some of the ^uAsiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to ^vventure into the theater. 32 ⁵³So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the ^wassembly was in confusion and the majority did not know ^xfor what reason they had come together. 33 Some of the crowd ^yconcluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward ; and having ⁵⁴motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the ^zassembly. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, "Great is ^aaArtemis of the Ephesians !" 35 After quieting the crowd, the town clerk said, "Men of ⁵⁵Ephesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great ^bbArtemis and of the image which fell down from ^ccheaven ? 36 "So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash. 37 "For you have brought these men here who are neither ⁵⁶robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38 "So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against any man, the courts are in session and ^dd57proconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another. 39 "But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the ^eelawful ^ffassembly. 40 "For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today's events, since there is no real cause for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering." 41 After saying this he dismissed the ^ggassembly.