Acts 19:1–12

Paul in Ephesus

¹⁹While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.^{* 2}He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ³Then he said, “Into what, then, were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.”^{* 4}Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.”^{* 5}On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied;^{* 7}altogether there were about twelve of them.

⁸He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God.^{* 9}When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.^{f* 10}This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.^*

The Sons of Sceva

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,^{* 12}so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.^*