Acts 19

New Matthew Bible

Of the twelve men that Paul baptized at Ephesus, and what miracles were done by him. Demetrius incites riot in the city.

19 It came about, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul passed through the upper regions and went to Ephesus, and found certain disciples, ² and said to them, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said to him, No, we have not heard whether there is a Holy Spirit or not. ³ And he said to them, With what then were you baptized? And they said, With John’s baptism. ⁴ Then Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who was to come after him; that is, on Christ Jesus.

⁵ When they heard that, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And Paul laid his hands upon them, and the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. ⁷ And the men were about twelve in all.

⁸ And he went into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for the space of three months, teaching and giving them exhortations of the kingdom of God. ⁹ When some grew hardhearted and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way, and that before the assembly, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples. And he held discussions daily in the school of one called Tyrannus. ¹⁰ And this continued for two years, so that all those who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹ And God worked no small miracles by the hands of Paul. ¹² Napkins or partlets were even brought from his body to the sick, and their diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them.

¹³ Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, We exorcise you by Jesus whom Paul preaches! ¹⁴ And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew and chief of the priests, who did this. ¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? ¹⁶ And the man in whom the evil spirit was ran on them and overcame them, and so prevailed against them that they fled out of that house with their clothes torn off and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all, both the Jews and Greeks that dwelt at Ephesus. And fear came on them all, and they magnified the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁸ And many who believed came and confessed, and showed their works. ¹⁹ Many of those who had been involved in occult practices brought their books and burned them openly. They estimated the value of them, and found it fifty thousand silverlings. ²⁰ Thus the word of God grew mightily and prevailed.

²¹ After these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to pass over Macedonia and Achaia and to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. ²² And he sent into Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus; but he himself remained in Asia for a season.

²³ At that time there arose no little ado about the Way. ²⁴ For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines for Diana, brought no little income to the craftsmen. ²⁵ He called these men together, with the workmen of related occupations, and said, Sirs, you know that we profit from this trade. ²⁶ Moreover, you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that things made with hands are not gods. ²⁷ As a result, not only is this our craft at risk of being discredited, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may fall into disrepute, and her magnificence be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.

²⁸ When they heard this, the men were full of wrath and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! ²⁹ And all the city was on a roar, and the people rushed into the public theatre with one assent and caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions.

³⁰ When Paul would have entered in to the people, the disciples prevented him. ³¹ Also, certain of the leading Asians that were his friends sent to him, urging him not to press into the theatre. ³² Some cried one thing and some another, and the crowd was all out of order, and the majority did not know why they had come together.

³³ Some of the crowd drew Alexander out, the Jews thrusting him forward. Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to give the people an answer. ³⁴ But when they knew that he was a Jew, there arose a shout for almost two hours, everyone crying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians!

³⁵ When the town clerk had quieted the people, he said, Men of Ephesus, what man is it that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana and of the image that came from heaven? ³⁶ Seeing then that no one here denies this, you ought to be quiet, and do nothing rashly. ³⁷ For you have brought here these men who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. ³⁸ And so if Demetrius and the craftsmen that are with him have any charge against anyone, the court is open, and there are deputies. Let them bring complaints against one another. ³⁹ If you have any other matter, it may be determined in a lawful assembly. ⁴⁰ For we are at risk of charges being made against us for this day’s uproar, since there is no good reason we can give to account for this mob of people.

⁴¹ And when he had thus spoken, he let the assembly depart.