Acts 19:24

24 Demetrius enim quidam nomine argentarius faciens aedes argenteas Dianae praestabat artificibus non modicum quaestum

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 mittens autem in Macedoniam duos ex ministrantibus sibi Timotheum et Erastum ipse remansit ad tempus in Asia
23 facta est autem in illo tempore turbatio non minima de via
24 Demetrius enim quidam nomine argentarius faciens aedes argenteas Dianae praestabat artificibus non modicum quaestum
25 quos convocans et eos qui eiusmodi erant opifices dixit viri scitis quia de hoc artificio adquisitio est nobis
26 et videtis et auditis quia non solum Ephesi sed paene totius Asiae Paulus hic suadens avertit multam turbam dicens quoniam non sunt dii qui manibus fiunt
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.