Acts 19:24

24 A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans.

Acts 19:24 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 19:24

For a certain man, named Demetrius, a silversmith
Who worked in silver, not in coining silver money, but in making silver vessels, in melting silver, and casting it into moulds, and forming it into different shapes; and particularly,

which made silver shrines for Diana;
who Diana was, (See Gill on Acts 19:27), these were not coins or medals of silver, struck by Demetrius, with the figure of the temple of Diana on them, nor images of Diana, as the Ethiopic version reads; but they were chaplets, or little temples made of silver, in imitation of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, with her image included in it; the words may be rendered, "silver temples": in some manuscripts it is added, "like little chests": which being sold to the people,

brought no small gain to the craftsmen:
who were of the same trade with him; masters of the same business, who employed others under them, as appears by what follows.

Acts 19:24 In-Context

22 So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.
23 About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way.
24 A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans.
25 These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, "Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business.
26 You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.