18After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ²There he met a Jew named Aquila, who was a native of Pontus. Aquila had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla. The emperor Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see Aquila and Priscilla. ³They were tentmakers, just as he was. So he stayed and worked with them. ⁴Every Sabbath day he went to the synagogue. He was trying to get both Jews and Greeks to believe in the Lord.

⁵Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia. Then Paul spent all his time preaching. He gave witness to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. ⁶But the Jews opposed Paul. They treated him badly. He didn’t like this. So he shook out his clothes. Then he said to them, “Anything that happens to you will be your own fault! Don’t blame me for it! From now on I will go to people who are not Jews.”

⁷Then Paul left the synagogue. He went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a man who worshiped God. ⁸Crispus was the synagogue ruler. He and his whole family came to believe in the Lord. Many others who lived in Corinth heard Paul. They too believed and were baptized.

⁹One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Keep on speaking. Don’t be silent. ¹⁰I am with you. No one will attack you and harm you. I have many people in this city.” ¹¹So Paul stayed there for a year and a half. He taught them God’s word.

¹²At that time Gallio was governor of Achaia. The Jews got together and attacked Paul. They brought him into court. ¹³“This man,” they charged, “is trying to talk people into worshiping God in ways that are against the law.”

¹⁴Paul was about to speak up for himself. But just then Gallio spoke to the Jews. “You Jews are not claiming that Paul has committed a crime, whether large or small,” he said. “If you were, it would make sense for me to listen to you. ¹⁵But this is about your own law. It is a question of words and names. Settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.” ¹⁶So he had them thrown out of the court. ¹⁷Then all the Jews turned against Sosthenes. He was the synagogue ruler. They beat him up in front of the court. But Gallio didn’t care at all.

Priscilla and Aquila Teach Apollos

¹⁸Paul stayed in Corinth for some time. Then he left the believers and sailed for Syria. Priscilla and Aquila went with him. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea. He did this because he had made a promise to God. ¹⁹They arrived at Ephesus. There Paul said good-by to Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and talked with the Jews. ²⁰The Jews asked him to spend more time with them. But he said no. ²¹As he left, he made them a promise. “If God wants me to,” he said, “I will come back.” Then he sailed from Ephesus. ²²When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem. There he greeted the church. He then went down to Antioch.

²³Paul spent some time in Antioch. Then he left and traveled all over Galatia and Phrygia. He gave strength to all the believers there.

²⁴At that time a Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was an educated man from Alexandria. He knew the Scriptures very well. ²⁵Apollos had been taught the way of the Lord. He spoke with great power. He taught the truth about Jesus. But he only knew about John’s baptism. ²⁶He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. Priscilla and Aquila heard him. So they invited him to their home. There they gave him a better understanding of the way of God.

²⁷Apollos wanted to go to Achaia. The brothers agreed with him. They wrote to the believers there. They asked them to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who had become believers by God’s grace. ²⁸He argued strongly against the Jews in public meetings. He proved from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

Paul Goes to Ephesus

19While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road to Ephesus. When he arrived, he found some believers there. ²He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”

“No,” they answered. “We haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

⁴Paul said, “John baptized people, calling them to turn away from their sins. He told them to believe in the one who was coming after him. Jesus is that one.” ⁵After hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶Paul placed his hands on them. Then the Holy Spirit came on them. They spoke in languages they had not known before. They also prophesied. ⁷There were about 12 of them in all.

⁸Paul entered the synagogue. There he spoke boldly for three months. He tried to talk the people into accepting his teaching about God’s kingdom. ⁹But some of them wouldn’t listen. They refused to believe. In public they said evil things about the Way of Jesus. So Paul left them. He took the believers with him. Each day he talked with people in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰This went on for two years. So all the Jews and Greeks who lived in Asia Minor heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹God did amazing miracles through Paul. ¹²Even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to those who were sick. When this happened, their sicknesses were healed and evil spirits left them.

¹³Some Jews went around driving out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to set free those who were controlled by demons. They said, “In Jesus’ name I command you to come out. He is the Jesus that Paul is preaching about.” ¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva were doing this. Sceva was a Jewish chief priest. ¹⁵One day the evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus. And I know about Paul. But who are you?” ¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on Sceva’s sons. He overpowered them all. He gave them a terrible beating. They ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

¹⁷The Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus heard about this. They were all overcome with fear. They held the name of the Lord Jesus in high honor. ¹⁸Many who believed now came and openly admitted the evil they had done. ¹⁹A number of those who had practiced evil magic brought their scrolls together. They set them on fire out in the open. They added up the value of the scrolls. They found that it would take more than two lifetimes to earn what the scrolls were worth.

²⁰The word of the Lord spread everywhere. It became more and more powerful.

²¹After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem. He went through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been to Jerusalem,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.” ²²He sent Timothy and Erastus, two of his helpers, to Macedonia. But he stayed a little longer in Asia Minor.

Trouble in Ephesus

²³At that time many people became very upset about the Way of Jesus. ²⁴There was a man named Demetrius who made things out of silver. He made silver models of the temple of the goddess Artemis. He brought in a lot of business for the other skilled workers. ²⁵One day he called them together. He also called others who were in the same kind of business. “Men,” he said, “you know that we make good money from our work. ²⁶You have seen and heard what this fellow Paul is doing. He has talked to large numbers of people here in Ephesus. Almost everywhere in Asia Minor he has led people away from our gods. He says that the gods we make are not gods at all. ²⁷Our work is in danger of losing its good name. People’s faith in the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be weakened. Now she is worshiped through all of Asia Minor and the whole world. But soon she will be robbed of her greatness.”

²⁸When they heard this, they became very angry. They began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹Soon people were making trouble in the whole city. They all rushed into the theater. They dragged Gaius and Aristarchus along with them. These two men had come with Paul from Macedonia. ³⁰Paul wanted to appear in front of the crowd. But the believers wouldn’t let him. ³¹Some of the officials in Asia Minor were friends of Paul. They sent him a message, begging him not to go into the theater.

³²The crowd didn’t know what was going on. Some were shouting one thing and some another. Most of the people didn’t even know why they were there. ³³The Jews pushed Alexander to the front. Some of the crowd tried to tell him what to say. But he motioned for them to be quiet. He wanted to speak up for himself in front of the people. ³⁴But then they realized that he was a Jew. So they all shouted the same thing for about two hours. “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” they yelled.

³⁵The city clerk quieted the crowd down. “Men of Ephesus!” he said. “The whole world knows that the city of Ephesus guards the temple of the great Artemis. They know that Ephesus guards her statue, which fell from heaven. ³⁶These facts can’t be questioned. So calm down. Don’t do anything foolish.

³⁷“These men haven’t robbed any temples. They haven’t said evil things against our goddess. But you have brought them here anyhow. ³⁸Demetrius and the other skilled workers may feel they have been wronged by someone. Let them bring charges. The courts are open. We have our governors. ³⁹Is there anything else you want to bring up? Settle it in a court of law. ⁴⁰As it is, today we are in danger of being charged with causing all this trouble. But there is no reason for it. We wouldn’t be able to explain what has happened.” ⁴¹After he said this, he sent the people away.

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