Atti 19:19

19 E buon numero di quelli che aveano esercitato le arti magiche, portarono i loro libri assieme, e li arsero in presenza di tutti; e calcolatone il prezzo, trovarono che ascendeva a cinquantamila dramme d’argento.

Atti 19:19 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 19:19

Many also of them which used curious arts.
&c.] Magic arts, soothsaying, necromancy, conjuration, and the like, being convinced of the folly and wickedness of them:

brought their books together;
by which they had learned these arts; Ephesus was famous for this sort of learning; here Apollonius Tyaneus, in the beginning of Nero's reign, opened a school and taught magic, and such like things: frequent mention is made of the Ephesian letters, which were no other than enchantments; and even Diana, the goddess of the Ephesians, is said to be a magician ^F11:

and burned them before all men;
to show their detestation of them, and the truth and genuineness of their repentance for their former sins; and that these books might not be a snare to them for the future, nor be made use of by others:

and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand
pieces of silver;
which is thought to answer to one thousand five hundred sixty two pounds and ten shillings of our money; reckoning a piece of silver, an Attic drachma; for such might be the silver pieces at Ephesus, a city of Greece, and which was of the value of our money seven pence halfpenny; but if Luke meant by pieces of silver, shekels, according to the Jewish way, (See Gill on Matthew 26:15) then the sum is much larger, for a shekel was about two shillings and six pence of our money; so that fifty thousand pieces of silver, amount to six thousand two hundred and fifty pounds; a large sum indeed for magic books! some manuscripts read "gold" instead of "silver", which must greatly increase the value.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Tatian. contr. Graecos, p. 147.

Atti 19:19 In-Context

17 E questo venne a notizia di tutti, Giudei e Greci, che abitavano in Efeso; e tutti furon presi da spavento, e il nome del Signor Gesù era magnificato.

18 E molti di coloro che aveano creduto, venivano a confessare e a dichiarare le cose che aveano fatte.

19 E buon numero di quelli che aveano esercitato le arti magiche, portarono i loro libri assieme, e li arsero in presenza di tutti; e calcolatone il prezzo, trovarono che ascendeva a cinquantamila dramme d’argento.

20 Così la parola di Dio cresceva potentemente e si rafforzava.

21 Compiute che furon queste cose, Paolo si mise in animo d’andare a Gerusalemme, passando per la Macedonia e per l’Acaia. Dopo che sarò stato là, diceva, bisogna ch’io veda anche Roma.