Open English Translation ACTs Chapter 19

19 So then while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul travelled through the interior regions before arriving at Ephesus. He found some followers there, 2 and asked them if they had received the holy spirit when they had first believed in Yeshua.

They replied, “We hadn’t even heard that there’s a holy spirit.”

3 “So then what were you immersed into?” asked Paul.

“With Yohan’s immersion,” they answered.

4 Then Paul said, “Yohan immersed people in water with an immersion that went with repentance from their sins, but he told them to believe in the one who would follow him, that is to believe in Yeshua.”

5 When the followers heard this, they were immersed in water again, this time proclaiming their faith in Yeshua the master. 6 Then Paul placed his hands on them and prayed and the holy spirit came down onto them and they started speaking in other languages and speaking messages from God. 7 There were about twelve men in the group.

8 So Paul started going to the Jewish meeting hall and for the next three months he boldly discussed and persuaded them about God’s kingdom. 9 But as some of them refused to believe and became hardened against his teaching and started telling everyone that the Yeshua way was evil, Paul stopped teaching in the meeting hall and taught the followers at Turannos’ school instead. 10 This went on for two years to the point that everyone in Asia Minor, whether Jews or Greeks, heard the message about Yeshua.

11 And God was doing incredible miracles through Paul 12 such that even if handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were placed on top of any person who was sick or troubled with demons, then they would recover and the evil spirits would leave them. 13 But some of the Jewish exorcists going around attempted to use the name of Yeshua to drive out evil spirits by telling them, “I am imploring you all by Yeshua that Paul preaches about.” 14 Seven sons of the Jewish chief priest, Sceva were doing this.

15 But the evil spirit would answer them saying, “I know Yeshua and I recognise Paul, but who are you?”

16 Then the man who had the evil spirit would jump on them and beat them up so they’d end up escaping out of the house naked and wounded. 17 When everyone in Ephesus heard about this, both Jews and Greeks were frightened, and the name of Yeshua the master was being honoured. 18 Many of the people who believed in Yeshua came and confessed their sins and wrong practices. 19 Lots of the people who’d practiced magic brought their scrolls and burnt them in front of the others. When the values of all of these were added up, it was huge—worth around 50,000 silver coins. 20 So that was how the master’s message had a powerful effect and won over many people.

21 After all of this, Paul decided in his spirit that he would need to travel through Macedonia and Achaia enroute to Yerusalem, saying, “After I’ve been there a while, I will also need to go to Rome.” 22 He sent two of his workers, Timothy and Eratos, to Macedonia while he stayed on a bit longer in Asia Minor.

23 But while he was still there, a major disturbance hit the Yeshua followers. 24 A silversmith named Demetrius made little silver shrines of Artemis and this business brought a tidy profit to the local craftsmen. 25 Demetrius gathered all the workers together and told them, “Men, you all know that our prosperity comes from this business of ours. 26 But you’ve seen yourselves and heard from others that not only Ephesus, but almost our entire province of Asia Minor has become persuaded by this Paul fellow, and now the crowds are saying that what we make are not real gods. 27 However it’s not only us and our trade that is coming into disrepute, but the temple of the great goddess Artemis is considered to be useless. This could result in a loss of power for the great Artemis that all of Asia Minor and the inhabited world have been worshipping.”

28 When the gathering heard this, they became very angry and yelled out, “Artemis of the Ephesians is great!” 29 Then the whole city was filled with confusion and the people rushed to the theatre and grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus from Macedonia—travelling companions of Paul’s. 30 Now Paul wanted to go there and speak to the crowd, but the believers wouldn’t let him go. 31 Also some of the leaders from Asia Minor who were friendly towards him, sent messengers to him to implore him not to go to the theatre. 32 Some of the people gathered there were yelling out something, but overall it was just confusion, and the majority of the people couldn’t even tell you the reason why they were there. 33 Some people in the crowd selected Alexander the Jew and sent him forward to speak, so he motioned with his hand ready to explain the situation to the people. 34 But as soon as they recognised that he was a Jew, people started yelling, “Artemis of the Ephesians is great,” and this continued for over two hours.

35 Eventually the city administrator was able to calm the crowd and tell them, “Men, fellow Ephesians, what person from around here doesn’t know that it’s Ephesus that’s the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of this image that fell down from Zeus? 36 Since all of this is unquestionable, it makes sense for everyone to calm down and not do anything reckless. 37 These men that you presented here haven’t stolen anything from the temple, nor have they slandered our goddess. 38 So if Demetrius and the silver craftsmen with him have a case against anyone, they should bring it to the courts and the proconsuls and register the charges. 39 But for the rest of you, if you have a grievance against others, it needs to be settled in a lawful assembly 40 because we’re in danger of being charged with insurrection about what happened today. And we would have no defence that we could respond with concerning this disorderly gathering.” Then he told them all to go home.