Acts 19:14

14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

Acts 19:14 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 19:14

And there were seven sons of one Sceva a Jew
Who strolled about the country, and used exorcisms: and

chief of the priests;
that were at Ephesus; not the high priest of the Jews, for he would have been at Jerusalem, and not at Ephesus; though indeed it does not necessarily follow from the words, that Sceva himself was there, only his seven sons: however, no such name appears in the catalogue of the Jewish high priests, nor is it reasonable to think, that seven sons of an high priest should follow such a vagabond course of life: Beza's ancient copy only calls him "a priest"; and the Alexandrian copy reads his name, Sceuta, and the Ethiopic version omits it; it is the same with (hawko) , and signifies a spectator, or observer; see the Targum on ( 2 Samuel 13:34 ) ( Isaiah 21:6 ) .

which did so;
adjured the devils in the name of Jesus, to come out; at least they did so in one case, as follows.

Acts 19:14 In-Context

12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.

13 Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, “I command you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.”

14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

15 But one day the evil spirit responded, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

16 Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. The attack was so violent that they ran out of the house naked and wounded.