Paul in Ephesus
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And it happened that while 1Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed 2through the inlanda country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.
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And he said to them, 3"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said, "No, 4we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
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And Paul said, 7"John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people 8to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus."
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And 10when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and 11they began speaking in tongues and 12prophesying.
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There were about twelve men in all.
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And 13he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them 14about the kingdom of God.
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15But when some became stubborn and 16continued in unbelief, speaking evil of 17the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.c
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This continued for 18two years, so that 19all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
The Sons of Sceva
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And 20God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,
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21so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and 22the evil spirits came out of them.
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Then some of the itinerant Jewish 23exorcists 24undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, 25"I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims."
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Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
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But the evil spirit answered them, 26"Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?"
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And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered alld of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
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And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and 27the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.
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Also many of those who were now believers came, 28confessing and divulging their practices.
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And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
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So the word of the Lord 29continued to increase and prevail mightily.
A Riot at Ephesus
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Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit 30to pass through 31Macedonia and Achaia and 32go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have been there, 33I must also see Rome."
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And having sent into Macedonia two of 34his helpers, 35Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia 36for a while.
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For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, 39brought no little business to the craftsmen.
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40These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.
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And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, 41saying that 42gods made with hands are not gods.
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And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the 43great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship."
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When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, 44"Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
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So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and 45Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's 46companions in travel.
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But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.
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And even some of the Asiarchs,e who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.
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47Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
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Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, 48motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.
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But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, 49"Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
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And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from 50the sky?f
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Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.
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For you have brought 51these men here who are neither 52sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.
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If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are 53proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.
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But if you seek anything further,g it shall be settled in the regular assembly.
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For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion."
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And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)