Acts 18–19

¹And after these things, Paul having departed out of Athens, came to Corinth, ²and having found a certain Jew, by name Aquilas, of Pontus by birth, lately come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife—because of Claudius having directed all the Jews to depart out of Rome—he came to them, ³and because of being of the same craft, he did remain with them, and was working, for they were tent-makers as to craft; ⁴and he was reasoning in the synagogue every sabbath, persuading both Jews and Greeks. ⁵And when both Silas and Timotheus came down from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the Spirit, testifying fully to the Jews Jesus the Christ; ⁶and on their resisting and speaking evil, having shaken his garments, he said unto them, ‘Your blood is upon your head—I am clean; henceforth to the nations I will go on.’

⁷And having departed thence, he went to the house of a certain one, by name Justus, a worshipper of God, whose house was adjoining the synagogue, ⁸and Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue did believe in the Lord with all his house, and many of the Corinthians hearing were believing, and they were being baptized. ⁹And the Lord said through a vision in the night to Paul, ‘Be not afraid, but be speaking and thou mayest be not silent; ¹⁰because I am with thee, and no one shall set on thee to do thee evil; because I have much people in this city;’ ¹¹and he continued a year and six months, teaching among them the word of God.

¹²And Gallio being proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a rush with one accord upon Paul, and brought him unto the tribunal, ¹³saying—‘Against the law this one doth persuade men to worship God;’ ¹⁴and Paul being about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, ‘If, indeed, then, it was anything unrighteous, or an act of wicked profligacy, O Jews, according to reason I had borne with you, ¹⁵but if it is a question concerning words and names, and of your law, look ye yourselves to it, for a judge of these things I do not wish to be,’ ¹⁶and he drave them from the tribunal; ¹⁷and all the Greeks having taken Sosthenes, the chief man of the synagogue, were beating him before the tribunal, and not even for these things was Gallio caring.

¹⁸And Paul having remained yet a good many days, having taken leave of the brethren, was sailing to Syria—and with him are Priscilla and Aquilas—having shorn his head in Cenchera, for he had a vow; ¹⁹and he came down to Ephesus, and did leave them there, and he himself having entered into the synagogue did reason with the Jews: ²⁰and they having requested him to remain a longer time with them, he did not consent, ²¹but took leave of them, saying, ‘It behoveth me by all means the coming feast to keep at Jerusalem, and again I will return unto you—God willing.’ And he sailed from Ephesus, ²²and having come down to Caesarea, having gone up, and having saluted the assembly, he went down to Antioch. ²³And having made some stay he went forth, going through in order the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴And a certain Jew, Apollos by name, an Alexandrian by birth, a man of eloquence, being mighty in the Writings, came to Ephesus, ²⁵this one was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the Spirit, was speaking and teaching exactly the things about the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John; ²⁶this one also began to speak boldly in the synagogue, and Aquilas and Priscilla having heard of him, took him to them, and did more exactly expound to him the way of God, ²⁷and he being minded to go through into Achaia, the brethren wrote to the disciples, having exhorted them to receive him, who having come, did help them much who have believed through the grace, ²⁸for powerfully the Jews he was refuting publicly, shewing through the Writings Jesus to be the Christ.

Chapter 19

¹And it came to pass, in Apollos’ being in Corinth, Paul having gone through the upper parts, came to Ephesus, and having found certain disciples, ²he said unto them, ‘The Holy Spirit did ye receive—having believed?’ and they said unto him, ‘But we did not even hear whether there is any Holy Spirit;’ ³and he said unto them, ‘To what, then, were ye baptized?’ and they said, ‘To John’s baptism.’ ⁴And Paul said, ‘John, indeed, did baptize with a baptism of reformation, saying to the people that in him who is coming after him they should believe—that is, in the Christ—Jesus;’ ⁵and they, having heard, were baptized—to the name of the Lord Jesus, ⁶and Paul having laid on them his hands, the Holy Spirit came upon them, they were speaking also with tongues, and prophesying, ⁷and all the men were, as it were, twelve.

⁸And having gone into the synagogue, he was speaking boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading the things concerning the reign of God, ⁹and when certain were hardened and were disbelieving, speaking evil of the way before the multitude, having departed from them, he did separate the disciples, every day reasoning in the school of a certain Tyrannus. ¹⁰And this happened for two years so that all those dwelling in Asia did hear the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks, ¹¹mighty works also—not common—was God working through the hands of Paul, ¹²so that even unto the ailing were brought from his body handkerchiefs or aprons, and the sicknesses departed from them; the evil spirits also went forth from them.

¹³And certain of the wandering exorcist Jews, took upon them to name over those having the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul doth preach;’ ¹⁴and there were certain—seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest—who are doing this thing; ¹⁵and the evil spirit, answering, said, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I am acquainted with; and ye—who are ye?’ ¹⁶And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaping upon them, and having overcome them, prevailed against them, so that naked and wounded they did flee out of that house, ¹⁷and this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who are dwelling at Ephesus, and fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified, ¹⁸many also of those who did believe were coming, confessing and declaring their acts, ¹⁹and many of those who had practised the curious arts, having brought the books together, were burning them before all; and they reckoned together the prices of them, and found it five myriads of silverlings; ²⁰so powerfully was the word of God increasing and prevailing.

²¹And when these things were fulfilled, Paul purposed in the Spirit, having gone through Macedonia and Achaia, to go on to Jerusalem, saying—‘After my being there, it behoveth me also to see Rome;’ ²²and having sent to Macedonia two of those ministering to him—Timotheus and Erastus—he himself stayed a time in Asia. ²³And there came, at that time, not a little stir about the way, ²⁴for a certain one, Demetrius by name, a worker in silver, making silver sanctuaries of Artemis, was bringing to the artificers gain not a little, ²⁵whom, having brought in a crowd together, and those who did work about such things, he said, ‘Men, ye know that by this work we have our wealth; ²⁶and ye see and hear, that not only at Ephesus, but almost in all Asia, this Paul, having persuaded, did turn away a great multitude, saying, that they are not gods who are made by hands; ²⁷and not only is this department in danger for us of coming into disregard, but also, that of the great goddess Artemis the temple is to be reckoned for nothing, and also her greatness is about to be brought down, whom all Asia and the world doth worship.’ ²⁸And they having heard, and having become full of wrath, were crying out, saying, ‘Great is the Artemis of the Ephesians!’ ²⁹and the whole city was filled with confusion, they rushed also with one accord into the theatre, having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul’s fellow-travellers. ³⁰And on Paul’s purposing to enter in unto the populace, the disciples were not suffering him, ³¹and certain also of the chief men of Asia, being his friends, having sent unto him, were entreating him not to venture himself into the theatre. ³²Some indeed, therefore, were calling out one thing, and some another, for the assembly was confused, and the greater part did not know for what they were come together; ³³and out of the multitude they put forward Alexander—the Jews thrusting him forward—and Alexander having beckoned with the hand, wished to make defence to the populace, ³⁴and having known that he is a Jew, one voice came out of all, for about two hours, crying, ‘Great is the Artemis of the Ephesians!’ ³⁵And the public clerk having quieted the multitude, saith, ‘Men, Ephesians, why, who is the man that doth not know that the city of the Ephesians is a devotee of the great goddess Artemis, and of that which fell down from Zeus? ³⁶these things, then, not being to be gainsaid, it is necessary for you to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.

³⁷‘For ye brought these men, who are neither temple-robbers nor speaking evil of your goddess; ³⁸if indeed, therefore, Demetrius and the artificers with him with any one have a matter, court days are held, and there are proconsuls; let them accuse one another.

³⁹‘And if ye seek after anything concerning other matters, in the legal assembly it shall be determined; ⁴⁰for we are also in peril of being accused of insurrection in regard to this day, there being no occasion by which we shall be able to give an account of this concourse;’ ⁴¹and these things having said, he dismissed the assembly.

Chapter 20