New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.
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Now, it happened that while Apollos was away in Corinth, Paul made his way down through the mountains, came to Ephesus, and happened on some disciples there.
2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
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The first thing he said was, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? Did he get inside you?" "We've never even heard of that - a Holy Spirit? God within us?"
3 Then he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They answered, "Into John's baptism."
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"How were you baptized, then?" asked Paul. "In John's baptism."
4 Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus."
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"That explains it," said Paul. "John preached a baptism of radical life-change so that people would be ready to receive the One coming after him, who turned out to be Jesus. If you've been baptized in John's baptism, you're ready now for the real thing, for Jesus."
5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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And they were. As soon as they heard of it, they were baptized in the name of the Master Jesus.
6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied—
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Paul put his hands on their heads and the Holy Spirit entered them. From that moment on, they were praising God in tongues and talking about God's actions.
7 altogether there were about twelve of them.
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Altogether there were about twelve people there that day.
8 He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God.
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Paul then went straight to the meeting place. He had the run of the place for three months, doing his best to make the things of the kingdom of God real and convincing to them.
9 When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
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But then resistance began to form as some of them began spreading evil rumors through the congregation about the Christian way of life. So Paul left, taking the disciples with him, and set up shop in the school of Tyrannus, holding class there daily.
10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.
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He did this for two years, giving everyone in the province of Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, ample opportunity to hear the Message of the Master.
11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,
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God did powerful things through Paul, things quite out of the ordinary.
12 so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.
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The word got around and people started taking pieces of clothing - handkerchiefs and scarves and the like - that had touched Paul's skin and then touching the sick with them. The touch did it - they were healed and whole.
13 Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims."
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Some itinerant Jewish exorcists who happened to be in town at the time tried their hand at what they assumed to be Paul's "game." They pronounced the name of the Master Jesus over victims of evil spirits, saying, "I command you by the Jesus preached by Paul!"
14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
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The seven sons of a certain Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were trying to do this on a man
15 But the evil spirit said to them in reply, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?"
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when the evil spirit talked back: "I know Jesus and I've heard of Paul, but who are you?"
16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.
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Then the possessed man went berserk - jumped the exorcists, beat them up, and tore off their clothes. Naked and bloody, they got away as best they could.
17 When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised.
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It was soon news all over Ephesus among both Jews and Greeks. The realization spread that God was in and behind this. Curiosity about Paul developed into reverence for the Master Jesus.
18 Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices.
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Many of those who thus believed came out of the closet and made a clean break with their secret sorceries.
19 A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins.
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All kinds of witches and warlocks came out of the woodwork with their books of spells and incantations and made a huge bonfire of them. Someone estimated their worth at fifty thousand silver coins.
20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
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In such ways it became evident that the Word of the Master was now sovereign and prevailed in Ephesus.
21 Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, "After I have gone there, I must also see Rome."
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After all this had come to a head, Paul decided it was time to move on to Macedonia and Achaia provinces, and from there to Jerusalem. "Then," he said, "I'm off to Rome. I've got to see Rome!"
22 So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.
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He sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, on to Macedonia while he stayed for a while and wrapped things up in Asia.
23 About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way.
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But before he got away, a huge ruckus occurred over what was now being referred to as "the Way."
24 A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans.
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A certain silversmith, Demetrius, conducted a brisk trade in the manufacture of shrines to the goddess Artemis, employing a number of artisans in his business.
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.
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He rounded up his workers and others similarly employed and said, "Men, you well know that we have a good thing going here -
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.
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and you've seen how Paul has barged in and discredited what we're doing by telling people that there's no such thing as a god made with hands. A lot of people are going along with him, not only here in Ephesus but all through Asia province.
27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her."
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"Not only is our little business in danger of falling apart, but the temple of our famous goddess Artemis will certainly end up a pile of rubble as her glorious reputation fades to nothing. And this is no mere local matter - the whole world worships our Artemis!"
28 When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
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That set them off in a frenzy. They ran into the street yelling, "Great Artemis of the Ephesians!
29 The city was filled with the confusion; and people rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's travel companions.
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Great Artemis of the Ephesians!" They put the whole city in an uproar, stampeding into the stadium, and grabbing two of Paul's associates on the way, the Macedonians Gaius and Aristarchus.
30 Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him;
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Paul wanted to go in, too, but the disciples wouldn't let him.
31 even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater.
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Prominent religious leaders in the city who had become friendly to Paul concurred: "By no means go near that mob!"
32 Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
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Some were yelling one thing, some another. Most of them had no idea what was going on or why they were there.
33 Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people.
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As the Jews pushed Alexander to the front to try to gain control, different factions clamored to get him on their side. But he brushed them off and quieted the mob with an impressive sweep of his arms.
34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
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But the moment he opened his mouth and they knew he was a Jew, they shouted him down: "Great Artemis of the Ephesians! Great Artemis of the Ephesians!" - on and on and on, for over two hours.
35 But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, "Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven?
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Finally, the town clerk got the mob quieted down and said, "Fellow citizens, is there anyone anywhere who doesn't know that our dear city Ephesus is protector of glorious Artemis and her sacred stone image that fell straight out of heaven?
36 Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.
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Since this is beyond contradiction, you had better get hold of yourselves. This is conduct unworthy of Artemis.
37 You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.
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These men you've dragged in here have done nothing to harm either our temple or our goddess.
38 If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another.
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"So if Demetrius and his guild of artisans have a complaint, they can take it to court and make all the accusations they want.
39 If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly.
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If anything else is bothering you, bring it to the regularly scheduled town meeting and let it be settled there.
40 For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion."
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There is no excuse for what's happened today. We're putting our city in serious danger. Rome, remember, does not look kindly on rioters."
41 When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
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With that, he sent them home.
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.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.