Read the Bible

¹ And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country came down to Ephesus, and found certain disciples:² and he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they [said] to him, No, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was [given].³ And he said, Into what then were you baptized? And they said, Into John's baptism.⁴ And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him that should come after him, that is, on Jesus.⁵ And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied.⁷ And they were in all about twelve men.

⁸ And he entered into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for the space of three months, reasoning and persuading [as to] the things concerning the kingdom of God.⁹ But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.¹⁰ And this continued for the space of two years; so that all those that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.¹¹ And God did special miracles by the hands of Paul:¹² insomuch that to the sick were carried away from his body handkerchiefs or aprons, and the evil spirits went out.

¹³ But certain also of the strolling Jews, exorcists, took on them to name over those that had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.¹⁴ And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, who did this.¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said to them, Jesus I know, and Paul I am aware of, but who are you?¹⁶ And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, and mastered both of them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.¹⁷ And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, that dwelt at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.¹⁸ Many also of those that had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds.¹⁹ And not a few of those that did magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the price of them, and found it was $1 Million.²⁰ So, by the power of the Lord, the word kept spreading and growing stronger.

²¹ Now after these things had ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.²² And having sent into Macedonia two of those that served him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for awhile.²³ And about that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way.²⁴ For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen;²⁵ whom he gathered together, with the workers of like occupation, and said, Sirs, you know that by this business we have our wealth.²⁶ And you see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods, that are made with hands:²⁷ and not only is there danger that this trade of ours come into disrepute; but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be made of no account, and that she should even be deposed from her magnificence whom all Asia and the world worships.²⁸ And when they heard this they were filled with wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Artemis of the Ephesus.²⁹ And the city was filled with the confusion: and they rushed with one accord into the theatre, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel.³⁰ And when Paul was minded to enter in to the people, the disciples did not allow him.³¹ And certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent to him and implored him not to adventure himself into the theatre.³² Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was in confusion; and most didn't know why they had come together.³³ And they brought Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made a defense to the people.³⁴ But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.³⁵ And when the townclerk had quieted the multitude, he says, You men of Ephesus, what man is there who doesn't know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Artemis, and of the [image] which fell down from Jupiter?³⁶ Seeing then that these things can't be opposed, you ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rash.³⁷ For you have brought [here] these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.³⁸ If therefore Demetrius, and the craftsmen that are with him, have a matter against any man, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls: let them accuse one another.³⁹ But if you seek after something more, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.⁴⁰ For indeed we are in danger to be accused concerning this day's riot, there being no cause [for it]: and as concerning it we shall not be able to give account of this concourse. And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.