The Sons of Sceva
11 And
1God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,
12
2so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and
3the evil spirits came out of them.
13
Then some of the itinerant Jewish
4exorcists
5undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying,
6“I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. ”
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Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
15
But the evil spirit answered them,
7“Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you? ”
16
And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17
And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and
8the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.
18
Also many of those who were now believers came,
9confessing and divulging their practices.
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And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
20
So the word of the Lord
10continued to increase and prevail mightily.
A Riot at Ephesus
21 Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit
11to pass through
12Macedonia and Achaia and
13go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there,
14I must also see Rome. ”
22
And having sent into Macedonia two of
15his helpers,
16Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia
17for a while.
23
About that time
18there arose no little disturbance concerning
19the Way.
24
For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis,
20brought no little business to the craftsmen.
25
21These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.
26
And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people,
22saying that
23gods made with hands are not gods.
27
And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the
24great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship. ”
28
When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out,
25“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! ”
29
So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and
26Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s
27companions in travel.
30
But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.
31
And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.
32
28Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
33
Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander,
29motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.
34
But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice,
30“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! ”
35
And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from
31the sky?
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Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.
37
For you have brought
32these men here who are neither
33sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.
38
If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are
34proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.
39
But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.
40
For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion. ”
41
And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.