Acts 19:1-41

Thomson^{(i) 1} Now while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper provinces came to Ephesus, where finding2 certain disciples ² he said to them, Did you receive a holy spirit when you believed? Upon which they said to him, We have not so much as heard that a holy spirit is [received.] ³ There upon he said to them, To what then were ye baptized? And they said, To the baptism of John. ⁴ Then Paul said, John indeed baptized the baptism of reformation, telling the people that they should believe in one coming after him, namely in Jesus The Christ. ⁵ Upon hearing this they were baptized to the name of the Lord Jesus; ⁶ and Paul having laid his hands on them, the holy spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. ⁷ Now they were in all about twelve men. ⁸ Now having gone to the synagogue he spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and recommending the things concerning the kingdom of God. ⁹ But as some were stubborn disbelievers and continued to revile the way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and separated the disciples, discoursing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. ¹⁰ And this he continued to do for the space of two years, so that all the inhabitants of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord Jesus. ¹¹ And God wrought extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that handkerchiefs and aprons were carried from his body to them who were sick, and the diseases were removed from them, and evil spirits went out of them. ¹³ Upon this some of the strolling Jewish exorcists attempted to name the name of the Lord Jesus, over them who had these evil spirits, saying, "We adjure you by that Jesus whom Paul proclaimeth" ¹⁴ Now there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did this. ¹⁵ Upon which the evil spirit in reply said, Jesus I know, and I have some knowledge of Paul: but who are ye? ¹⁶ Then the man, in whom was the evil spirit, springing upon them, and getting a mastery over them, prevailed against them so that they fled out of his house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ And this was known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who dwelt at Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all. And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. ¹⁸ And many of them who believed came and confessed, and made a public acknowledgment of their deeds. ¹⁹ And several of them having practised magical arts, brought their books and burned them publicly, the value of them by computation amounting to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So powerfully did the word of the Lord increase and prevail. ²¹ Now when these things were accomplished, Paul resolved in his mind, after passing through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem, saying, after I have been there, I must also see Rome. ²² So having sent forward two of them who attended him, namely Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, he himself tarried some time in Asia. ²³ And during that time there was a considerable disturbance about this way. ²⁴ For one Demetrius, a silversmith, a maker of silver shrines of Diana, kept in employ a great number of artists; ²⁵ and having assembled these and the workmen of like occupation, he said, "Men, you know that on this manufacture dependeth our maintenance. ²⁶ And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul by his persuasion hath perverted a vast multitude, saying that they which are made with hands, are not gods. ²⁷ So that not only this occupation of ours is in danger of being brought into disrepute; but the temple also of the great goddess Diana, of .being set at naught; and her majesty destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth." ²⁸ Upon hearing this and being full of rage they shouted, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. ²⁹ And the whole city was filled with confusion. And they rushed with one accord into the theatre, dragging along with them Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's fellow travellers. ³⁰ Upon this Paul had a mind to go to the people, but the disciples did not permit him. ³¹ And some of the chiefs of Asia also, who were his friends, sent to him and advised him not to venture into the theatre. ³² Now some cried one thing; and some, another. For the congregation was in the utmost confusion, and the greater part did not know for what particular purpose they had convened. ³³ But when they had thrust Alexander out of the crowd, the Jews pushing him forward, and Alexander waving his hand wished to make a defence to the people, ³⁴ they knowing that he was a Jew, there was, for about two hours, one continued shout from all, crying out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. ³⁵ At length the recorder having stilled the crowd, said, Men of Ephesus, who is there who doth not know that the city of the Ephesians is a humble devotee of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell from Jupiter? ³⁶ Since these things are incontestable you ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly. ³⁷ For you have brought hither these men, who have neither violated things sacred, nor reviled your goddess. ³⁸ If now Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have an action against any one, the courts are open and there are proconsuls to judge: let them bring their suits. ³⁹ And if you seek any thing in respect to other matters, let it be discussed in a legal assembly of the people. ⁴⁰ For we indeed are in danger of being called in question for this day's riot, there being no cause which we can assign for this tumultuous concourse. 41 Having said this, he dismissed the assembly.