Page 288 - Demo

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 
began to hold daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10This continued for two years with the result that all the inhabitants of the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord, Jews and Greeks alike. 11So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul 12that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.c
The Jewish Exorcists. 13Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits, saying, “I
adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14When the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, tried to do this, 15the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I recognize, Paul I know, but who are you?” 16The person with the evil spirit then sprang at them and subdued them all. He so overpowered them that they ed naked and wounded from that house. 17When this became known to all the Jews and Greeks who lived in Ephesus, fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in great esteem. 18Many of those who had become believers
came forward and openly acknowledged their former practices. 19Moreover, a large number of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in public. They calculated their value and found it to be fty thousand silver pieces. 20Thus did the word of the Lord continue to spread with in uence and power.
Paul’s Plans. 21When this was concluded, Paul made up his mind to travel through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must visit Rome also.”d 22Then he sent to Macedonia two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, while he himself stayed for a while in the province of Asia.
The Riot of the Silversmiths. 23About that time a serious disturbance broke out concerning the Way. 24There was a silversmith named Demetrius who made miniature silver shrines of Artemis* and provided no little work for the craftsmen. 25He called a meeting of these and other workers in related crafts and said, “Men, you know well that our prosperity derives from this work. 26As you can now see and hear, not only in Ephesus but throughout most of the province of Asia this Paul has persuaded and misled a great number of people by saying that gods made
by hands are not gods at all.e 27The danger grows, not only that our business will be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be of no account, and that she whom the whole province of Asia and all the world worship will be stripped of her magni cence.”
Philippi Thessalonica
GALATIA
Miletus Patara
Corinth GREECE
CRETE
CYPRUS
Damas
Troas
Athens Ephesus
Tarsus Antioch
Tyrus Caesarea Jerusalem
19:19 Occult practices were common in the ancient world: fortune-telling, magic, oracles. The new Gentile converts in Ephesus abandon these old ways, burning their books of magic, putting all their trust in the powerful name of Jesus.
Ancient remains of a temple in Turkey. Paul was to stay in Ephesus for two years.
19:23 An unanticipated consequence of the spread of the Gospel is a riot among the silversmiths, whose living comes from the making of idols. One of them foresees that, if the Gospel continues to spread, their business will dry up entirely.
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* [19:24] Miniature silver shrines of Artemis: the temple of Artemis at Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Artemis, originally the Olympian virgin hunter, moon goddess, and goddess of wild nature, was worshiped at Ephesus as an Asian mother goddess and goddess of fertility. She was one of the most widely worshiped female deities in the Hellenistic world (see Acts 18:27).
c. [19:12] 5:15–16; Lk 8:44–47. e. [19:26] 17:29.
d. [19:21] 23:11; Rom 1:13; 15:22–32. f. [19:29] Col 4:10.