Acts 18–19

Paul in Corinth

18Later Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ²Here he met a Jew named Aquila who had been born in the country of Pontus. But Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, had recently moved to Corinth from Italy, because Claudius ⁿ commanded that all Jews must leave Rome. Paul went to visit Aquila and Priscilla. ³Because they were tentmakers, just as he was, he stayed with them and worked with them. ⁴Every Sabbath day he talked with the Jews and Greeks in the synagogue, trying to persuade them to believe in Jesus.

⁵Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia and joined Paul in Corinth. After this, Paul spent all his time telling people the Good News, showing them that Jesus is the Christ. ⁶But they would not accept Paul’s teaching and said some evil things. So he shook off the dust from his clothes ⁿ and said to them, “If you are not saved, it will be your own fault! I have done all I can do! After this, I will go to other nations.” ⁷Paul left the synagogue and moved into the home of Titius Justus, next to the synagogue. This man worshiped God. ⁸Crispus was the leader of that synagogue, and he and all the people living in his house believed in the Lord. Many others in Corinth also listened to Paul and believed and were baptized.

⁹During the night, the Lord told Paul in a vision: “Don’t be afraid. Continue talking to people and don’t be quiet. ¹⁰I am with you, and no one will hurt you because many of my people are in this city.” ¹¹Paul stayed there for a year and a half, teaching God’s word to the people.

Paul Is Brought Before Gallio

¹²When Gallio was the governor of the country of Southern Greece, some people came together against Paul and took him to the court. ¹³They said, “This man is teaching people to worship God in a way that is against our law.”

¹⁴Paul was about to say something, but Gallio spoke, saying, “I would listen to you if you were complaining about a crime or some wrong. ¹⁵But the things you are saying are only questions about words and names—arguments about your own law. So you must solve this problem yourselves. I don’t want to be a judge of these things.” ¹⁶And Gallio made them leave the court.

¹⁷Then they all grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him there before the court. But this did not bother Gallio.

Paul Returns to Antioch

¹⁸Paul stayed with the believers for many more days. Then he left and sailed for Syria, with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchrea Paul cut off his hair, ⁿ because he had made a promise to God. ¹⁹Then they went to Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. While Paul was there, he went into the synagogue and talked with the people. ²⁰When they asked him to stay with them longer, he refused. ²¹But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you again if God wants me to.” And so he sailed away from Ephesus.

²²When Paul landed at Caesarea, he went and gave greetings to the church in Jerusalem. After that, Paul went to Antioch. ²³He stayed there for a while and then left and went through the regions of Galatia and Phrygia. He traveled from town to town in these regions, giving strength to all the followers.

Apollos in Ephesus and Corinth

²⁴A Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was born in the city of Alexandria and was a good speaker who knew the Scriptures well. ²⁵He had been taught about the way of the Lord and was always very excited when he spoke and taught the truth about Jesus. But the only baptism Apollos knew about was the baptism that John ⁿ taught. ²⁶Apollos began to speak very boldly in the synagogue, and when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him to their home and helped him better understand the way of God. ²⁷Now Apollos wanted to go to the country of Southern Greece. So the believers helped him and wrote a letter to the followers there, asking them to accept him. These followers had believed in Jesus because of God’s grace, and when Apollos arrived, he helped them very much. ²⁸He argued very strongly with the Jews before all the people, clearly proving with the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

Paul in Ephesus

19While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul was visiting some places on the way to Ephesus. There he found some followers ²and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

They said, “We have never even heard of a Holy Spirit.”

³So he asked, “What kind of baptism did you have?”

They said, “It was the baptism that John taught.”

⁴Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of changed hearts and lives. He told people to believe in the one who would come after him, and that one is Jesus.”

⁵When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶Then Paul laid his hands on them, ⁿ and the Holy Spirit came upon them. They began speaking different languages ⁿ and prophesying. ⁷There were about twelve people in this group.

⁸Paul went into the synagogue and spoke out boldly for three months. He talked with the people and persuaded them to accept the things he said about the kingdom of God. ⁹But some of them became stubborn. They refused to believe and said evil things about the Way of Jesus before all the people. So Paul left them, and taking the followers with him, he went to the school of a man named Tyrannus. There Paul talked with people every day ¹⁰for two years. Because of his work, every Jew and Greek in Asia heard the word of the Lord.

The Sons of Sceva

¹¹God used Paul to do some very special miracles. ¹²Some people took handkerchiefs and clothes that Paul had used and put them on the sick. When they did this, the sick were healed and evil spirits left them.

¹³But some people also were traveling around and making evil spirits go out of people. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to force the evil spirits out. They would say, “By the same Jesus that Paul talks about, I order you to come out!” ¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this.

¹⁵But one time an evil spirit said to them, “I know Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them. Because he was so much stronger than all of them, they ran away from the house naked and hurt. ¹⁷All the people in Ephesus—Jews and Greeks—learned about this and were filled with fear and gave great honor to the Lord Jesus. ¹⁸Many of the believers began to confess openly and tell all the evil things they had done. ¹⁹Some of them who had used magic brought their magic books and burned them before everyone. Those books were worth about fifty thousand silver coins. ⁿ

²⁰So in a powerful way the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing.

²¹After these things, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, planning to go through the countries of Macedonia and Southern Greece and then on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have been to Jerusalem, I must also visit Rome.” ²²Paul sent Timothy and Erastus, two of his helpers, ahead to Macedonia, but he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

Trouble in Ephesus

²³And during that time, there was some serious trouble in Ephesus about the Way of Jesus. ²⁴A man named Demetrius, who worked with silver, made little silver models that looked like the temple of the goddess Artemis. ⁿ Those who did this work made much money. ²⁵Demetrius had a meeting with them and some others who did the same kind of work. He told them, “Men, you know that we make a lot of money from our business. ²⁶But look at what this man Paul is doing. He has convinced and turned away many people in Ephesus and in almost all of Asia! He says the gods made by human hands are not real. ²⁷There is a danger that our business will lose its good name, but there is also another danger: People will begin to think that the temple of the great goddess Artemis is not important. Her greatness will be destroyed, and Artemis is the goddess that everyone in Asia and the whole world worships.”

²⁸When the others heard this, they became very angry and shouted, “Artemis, the goddess of Ephesus, is great!” ²⁹The whole city became confused. The people grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus, who were from Macedonia and were traveling with Paul, and ran to the theater. ³⁰Paul wanted to go in and talk to the crowd, but the followers did not let him. ³¹Also, some leaders of Asia who were friends of Paul sent him a message, begging him not to go into the theater. ³²Some people were shouting one thing, and some were shouting another. The meeting was completely confused; most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³They put a man named Alexander in front of the people, and some of them told him what to do. Alexander waved his hand so he could explain things to the people. ³⁴But when they saw that Alexander was a Jew, they all shouted the same thing for two hours: “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!”

³⁵Then the city clerk made the crowd be quiet. He said, “People of Ephesus, everyone knows that Ephesus is the city that keeps the temple of the great goddess Artemis and her holy stone ⁿ that fell from heaven. ³⁶Since no one can say this is not true, you should be quiet. Stop and think before you do anything. ³⁷You brought these men here, but they have not said anything evil against our goddess or stolen anything from her temple. ³⁸If Demetrius and those who work with him have a charge against anyone they should go to the courts and judges where they can argue with each other. ³⁹If there is something else you want to talk about, it can be decided at the regular town meeting of the people. ⁴⁰I say this because some people might see this trouble today and say that we are rioting. We could not explain this, because there is no real reason for this meeting.” ⁴¹After the city clerk said these things, he told the people to go home.