Act 19 | ESV | STEP | And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth , Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus . There he found some disciples .

1 And it happened that while ^aApollos was at Corinth, Paul passed ^bthrough the inland ^{▼▼Greek upper (that is, highland)} country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, ^d“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, ^ewe have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, ^f“Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into ^gJohn’s baptism.” 4 And Paul said, ^h“John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people ⁱto believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, ^jthey were baptized in ^{▼▼Or into} the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And ^lwhen Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and ^mthey began speaking in tongues and ⁿprophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

8 And ^ohe entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them ^pabout the kingdom of God. 9 ^qBut when some became stubborn and ^rcontinued in unbelief, speaking evil of ^sthe Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. ^{▼▼Some manuscripts add from the fifth hour to the tenth (that is, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)} 10 This continued for ^utwo years, so that ^vall the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

The Sons of Sceva

11 And ^wGod was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 ^xso that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and ^ythe evil spirits came out of them. 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish ^zexorcists ^aaundertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ^ab“I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, ^ac“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 ^{▼▼Or both} 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 ^aethe name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, ^afconfessing and divulging their practices. 19 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 ^agcontinued to increase and prevail mightily.

A Riot at Ephesus

21 Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit ^ahto pass through ^aiMacedonia and Achaia and ^ajgo to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, ^akI must also see Rome.” 22 And having sent into Macedonia two of ^alhis helpers, ^amTimothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia ^anfor a while.

23 About that time ^aothere arose no little disturbance concerning ^apthe Way. 24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, ^aqbrought no little business to the craftsmen. 25 ^arThese 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, ^assaying that ^atgods 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 ^augreat 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, ^av“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 ^awAristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s ^axcompanions 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, ^{▼▼That is, high-ranking officers of the province of Asia} who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. 32 ^azNow 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, ^bamotioning 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, ^bb“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 ^bcthe sky? ^{▼▼The meaning of the Greek is uncertain} 36 Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37 For you have brought ^bethese men here who are neither ^bfsacrilegious 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 ^bgproconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. 39 But if you seek anything further, ^{▼▼Some manuscripts seek about other matters} 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.