Acts 19–20

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.

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20All the trouble came to an end. Then Paul sent for the believers. After cheering them up, he said good-by. He then left for Macedonia. ²He traveled through that area, speaking many words of hope to the people. Finally he arrived in Greece. ³There he stayed for three months. He was just about to sail for Syria. But the Jews were making plans against him. So he decided to go back through Macedonia. ⁴Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, from Berea went with him. Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, and Timothy went too. Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia Minor also went with him. ⁵These men went on ahead. They waited for us at Troas. ⁶But we sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Five days later we joined the others at Troas. We stayed there for seven days.

Eutychus Is Raised From the Dead

⁷On the first day of the week we met to break bread and eat together. Paul spoke to the people. He kept on talking until midnight because he planned to leave the next day. ⁸There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. ⁹A young man named Eutychus was sitting in a window. He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. Sound asleep, Eutychus fell from the third floor. When they picked him up from the ground, he was dead.

¹⁰Paul went down and threw himself on the young man. He put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “He’s alive!” ¹¹Then Paul went upstairs again. He broke bread and ate with them. He kept on talking until daylight. Then he left. ¹²The people took the young man home. They were greatly comforted because he was alive.

Paul Says Good-by to the Ephesian Elders

¹³We went on ahead to the ship. We sailed for Assos. There we were going to take Paul on board. He had planned it this way because he wanted to go there by land. ¹⁴So he met us at Assos. We took him on board and went on to Mitylene.

¹⁵The next day we sailed from there. We arrived near Kios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos. We arrived at Miletus the next day. ¹⁶Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus. He didn’t want to spend time in Asia Minor. He was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem. If he could, he wanted to be there by the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus, Paul sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus. ¹⁸When they arrived, he spoke to them. “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you,” he said. “From the first day I came into Asia Minor, ¹⁹I was free of pride. I served the Lord with tears. I served him even though I was greatly tested by the evil plans of the Jews. ²⁰You know I haven’t let anyone keep me from preaching anything that would be helpful to you. I have taught you in public and from house to house. ²¹I have told both Jews and Greeks that they must turn away from their sins to God. They must have faith in our Lord Jesus.

²²“Now I am going to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit compels me. I don’t know what will happen to me there. ²³I only know that in every city the Spirit warns me. He tells me that I will face prison and suffering. ²⁴But my life means nothing to me. I only want to finish the race. I want to complete the work the Lord Jesus has given me. He wants me to give witness to others about the good news of God’s grace.

²⁵“I have spent time with you preaching about the kingdom. I know that none of you will ever see me again. ²⁶So I tell you today that I am not guilty if anyone has not believed. ²⁷I haven’t let anyone keep me from telling you everything God wants you to do.

²⁸“Keep watch over yourselves. Keep watch over all the believers. The Holy Spirit has made you leaders over them. Be shepherds of God’s church. He bought it with his own blood.

²⁹“I know that after I leave, wild wolves will come in among you. They won’t spare any of the sheep. ³⁰Even men from your own people will rise up and twist the truth. They want to get the believers to follow them. ³¹So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning you. Night and day I warned each of you with tears.

³²“Now I commit you to God’s care. I commit you to the word of his grace. It can build you up. Then you will share in what God plans to give all his people. ³³I haven’t longed for anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. ³⁴You yourselves know that I have used my own hands to meet my needs. I have also met the…