¹And it came to pass while Apollos was in Corinth that Paul crossed through the upper regions and came to Ephesus, and he found some disciples, ²and he asked them, “Did you receive holy spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether holy spirit exists.” ³And he asked them, “With what were you baptized, then?” And they said, “With the baptism of John.” ⁴Then Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is in Christ Jesus.” ⁵And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the holy spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. ⁷And there were about twelve of these men in total. ⁸And he went to the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, discussing and persuading them of matters concerning the kingdom of God. ⁹But when some became hardened and disbelieved, and when they denigrated “the way” in the presence of the community, he withdrew from them and separated the disciples from them, holding discussions daily in the lecture room of a certain Tyrannus. ¹⁰This took place for two years, resulting in all those living in Asia hearing the word of the Lord Jesus – both Jews and Greeks. ¹¹And God performed deeds of power of no ordinary sort through the hands of Paul, ¹²so that even sweat-bands or gowns which had been in contact with him were brought and put on the sick, and the diseases were removed from them, and evil spirits came out of them. ¹³Then some of the roaming Jewish exorcists took it in hand to name the name of the Lord Jesus over those possessed by the evil spirits, and they said, “We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴And there were a certain seven sons of Sceva, a senior Jewish priest, doing this. ¹⁵And the evil spirit answered and said, “I know Jesus, and I am well acquainted with Paul, but as for you, who are you?” ¹⁶And the man in whom the evil spirit was leapt on them and overpowered them, and he prevailed over them, with the result that they only escaped from that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷And this became known to all the Jews and Greeks who were living in Ephesus, and a fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. ¹⁸And many of those who had believed came confessing and admitting their practices. ¹⁹And a considerable number of those who had engaged in superstitious practices collected their books and burned them up in the presence of everyone, and they added up the value of them and found that it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰In this way the word of the Lord increased strongly and prevailed. ²¹And when these things had been completed, Paul resolved that, after he had gone across Macedonia and Achaea, he would go to Jerusalem, and he said, “After I arrive there, I must also see Rome.” ²²Then he sent two of those who were assisting him, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, but he himself stayed on for a while in Asia. ²³And a not insignificant disturbance took place at about that time concerning “the way”. ²⁴For a certain Demetrius by name, a silversmith, who made silver shrines to Artemis, provided the craftsmen with no small amount of work, ²⁵and he gathered them together, including the workmen connected with such things, and he said, “Men, you understand that our prosperity comes from this trade. ²⁶And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded a considerable number of people and caused them to change their position, saying that there are no gods made by hands. ²⁷And not only is this line of business of ours in danger of coming into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Artemis is in danger of being considered worthless, and also her magnificence of being destroyed – Artemis whom the whole of Asia and the world worships.” ²⁸When they heard this, they became full of anger and shouted, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹And the whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one mind to the theatre, and they rounded up Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, travelling companions of Paul. ³⁰And whereas Paul wanted to go to the people at large, the disciples did not allow him. ³¹And also some of the rulers of Asia, since they were friendly towards him, sent messengers to him, and they exhorted him not to venture into the theatre. ³²So some were shouting one thing, and some another. For the legislative assembly was in confusion, and most did not know on account of what they had gathered together. ³³And they put Alexander forward from the crowd, the Jews having proposed him. And Alexander motioned with his hand for quiet and wished to speak in defence to the people, ³⁴but when they realized he was a Jew, there arose one call from all of them, and they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” ³⁵Then the town clerk restrained the crowd and said, “Men of Ephesus, after all, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the custodian of the temple of the great goddess Artemis, and of the image of Zeus fallen from above. ³⁶So since these things are irrefutable, you must exercise restraint and not do anything rash. ³⁷For you have brought these men here, but they are not temple plunderers or blasphemers of your goddess. ³⁸So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a charge against anyone, the courts are functional and there are proconsuls available – let them charge one another. ³⁹But if you are seeking something relating to other matters, it will be settled in the legislative assembly. ⁴⁰For we are also in danger of being charged for today's rioting, although there is no cause concerning which we will not be able to give an account of this rally.” ⁴¹And when he had said these things, he dismissed the legislative assembly.