Acts 19–20

Paul in Ephesus

19And it happened that while ^tApollos was at Corinth, Paul passed ^uthrough the inland¹ country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. ²And he said to them, ^v“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, ^wwe have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ³And he said, ^x“Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into ^yJohn’s baptism.” ⁴And Paul said, ^y“John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people ^zto believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” ⁵On hearing this, ^athey were baptized in² the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶And ^bwhen Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and ^cthey began speaking in tongues and ^dprophesying. ⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸And ^ehe entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them ^fabout the kingdom of God. ^9gBut when some became stubborn and ^hcontinued in unbelief, speaking evil of ⁱthe Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.^{3 10}This continued for ^jtwo years, so that ^kall the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

The Sons of Sceva

¹¹And ^lGod was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ^12lso that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and ^mthe evil spirits came out of them. ¹³Then some of the itinerant Jewish ⁿexorcists ^oundertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ^p“I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵But the evil spirit answered them, ^q“Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all⁴ of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and ^rthe name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. ¹⁸Also many of those who were now believers came, ^sconfessing and divulging their practices. ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰So the word of the Lord ^tcontinued to increase and prevail mightily.

A Riot at Ephesus

²¹Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit ^uto pass through ^vMacedonia and Achaia and ^wgo to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, ^xI must also see Rome.” ²²And having sent into Macedonia two of ^yhis helpers, ^zTimothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia ^afor a while.

²³About that time ^bthere arose no little disturbance concerning ^cthe Way. ²⁴For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, ^dbrought no little business to the craftsmen. ^25dThese he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. ²⁶And 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, ^esaying that ^fgods made with hands are not gods. ²⁷And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the ^ggreat 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.”

²⁸When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, ^g“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and ^hAristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s ⁱcompanions in travel. ³⁰But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. ³¹And even some of the Asiarchs,⁵ who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. ^32jNow 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. ³³Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, ^kmotioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. ³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, ^l“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵And 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 ^mthe sky?^{6 36}Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. ³⁷For you have brought ⁿthese men here who are neither ^osacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. ³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are ^pproconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. ³⁹But if you seek anything further,⁷ it shall be settled in the regular assembly. ⁴⁰For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” ⁴¹And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

Paul in Macedonia and Greece

20After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and ^qdeparted for Macedonia. ²When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. ³There he spent three months, and when ^ra plot was made against him by the Jews¹ as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. ⁴Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, ^sAristarchus and Secundus; and ^sGaius of Derbe, and ^tTimothy; and the Asians, ^uTychicus and ^vTrophimus. ⁵These went on ahead and were waiting for ^wus at ^xTroas, ⁶but we sailed away from Philippi after ^ythe days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

Eutychus Raised from the Dead

^7zOn the first day of the week, when we were gathered together ^ato break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. ⁸There were many lamps in ^bthe upper room where we were gathered. ⁹And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he ^cfell down from the third story and was taken up dead. ¹⁰But Paul went down and ^dbent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, ^e“Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” ¹¹And when Paul had gone up and ^fhad broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. ¹²And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

¹³But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. ¹⁴And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. ¹⁵And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and² the day after that we went to Miletus. ¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening ^gto be at Jerusalem, if possible, ^hon the day of Pentecost.

Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

¹⁷Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called ⁱthe elders of the church to come to him. ¹⁸And when they came to him, he said to them:

^j“You yourselves know ^khow I lived among you the whole time ^jfrom the first day that I set foot in Asia, ^19lserving the Lord ^mwith all humility and with ⁿtears and with trials that happened to me through ^othe plots of the Jews; ²⁰how I ^pdid not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and ^qteaching you in public and from house to house, ^21rtestifying both to Jews and to Greeks of ^srepentance toward God and of ^tfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ.^{3 22}And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained ^uby⁴ the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³except that ^vthe Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that ^wimprisonment and ^xafflictions await me. ²⁴But ^yI do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only ^zI may finish my course and ^athe ministry ^bthat I received from the Lord Jesus, ^cto testify to ^dthe gospel of ^ethe grace of God. ²⁵And now, behold, ^fI know that none of you among whom I have gone about ^gproclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. ²⁶Therefore ^hI testify to you this day that ⁱI am innocent of the blood of all, ²⁷for ^jI did not shrink from declaring to you ^kthe whole counsel of God. ^28lPay careful attention to yourselves and to all ^mthe flock, in which ⁿthe Holy Spirit has made you ^ooverseers, ^pto care for ^qthe church of God,⁵ which he ^robtained ^swith his own blood.^{6 29}I ^rknow that after my departure ^tfierce wolves will come in among you, ^unot sparing the flock; ³⁰and ^vfrom among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹Therefore ^wbe alert, remembering that ^xfor three years I did not cease night or day ^yto admonish every one ^zwith tears. ³²And now ^aI commend you to God and to ^bthe word of his grace, which is able to ^cbuild you up and to give you ^dthe inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ^33eI coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. ^34fYou yourselves know that ^gthese hands ministered to my necessities and ^hto those who were with me. ³⁵In all things ⁱI have shown you that ^jby working hard in this way we must ^khelp the weak and ^lremember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed ^mto give than to receive.’ ”

³⁶And when…