Acts 18:23-21:16
23And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the aGalatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
24Now a Jew named aApollos, an bAlexandrian by birth, 1an eloquent man, arrived at cEphesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. 25This man had been instructed in athe way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with bthe baptism of John; 26and 1he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when aPriscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him bthe way of God more accurately. 27And when he wanted to go across to aAchaia, bthe brothers encouraged him and wrote to cthe disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly 1helped those who had believed through grace, 28for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating aby the Scriptures that bJesus is the 1Christ.
Paul in Ephesus
19Now it happened that while aApollos was at bCorinth, Paul passed through the cupper regions and came to dEphesus and found some disciples. 2And he said to them, “aDid you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, bwe have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received.” 3And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “aInto John’s baptism.” 4Then Paul said, “aJohn baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people bto believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5And when they heard this, they were abaptized 1in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6And when Paul had alaid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began bspeaking with tongues and cprophesying. 7Now there were in all about twelve men.
8And after he entered athe synagogue, he continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them babout the kingdom of God. 9But when asome were becoming hardened and were not believing, speaking evil of bthe Way before the multitude, he left them and took away cthe disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10This took place for atwo years, so that all who lived in 1,bAsia heard cthe word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Miracles in Ephesus
11And God was doing aextraordinary 1miracles by the hands of Paul, 12aso that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and bthe evil spirits went out. 13But also some of the Jewish aexorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I implore you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” 16And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in aEphesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. 18Also, many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. 19And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and were burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand 1,apieces of silver. 20So 1,athe word of the Lord bwas growing mightily and prevailing.
Riots in Ephesus
21Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the 1Spirit to ago to Jerusalem bafter he had passed through cMacedonia and dAchaia, saying, “After I have been there, eI must also see Rome.” 22And having sent into aMacedonia two of bthose who ministered to him, cTimothy and dErastus, he himself stayed in 1,eAsia for a while.
23Now about that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning athe Way. 24For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of 1Artemis, awas bringing no little 2business to the craftsmen; 25these he gathered together with the workers of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is from this business. 26“And you see and hear that not only in aEphesus, but in almost all of bAsia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable crowd, saying that cthings made with hands are not gods. 27“And not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess 1Artemis be considered as worthless and that she, whom all of aAsia and bthe 2world worship, is even about to be brought down from her majesty.”
28When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, “Great is 1Artemis of the aEphesians!” 29And the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed 1with one accord into the theater, dragging along aGaius and bAristarchus, Paul’s traveling ccompanions from dMacedonia. 30And when Paul wanted to go into the 1assembly, athe disciples would not let him. 31Also some of the 1Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to 2venture into the theater. 32aSo then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the 1meeting was in confusion and the majority did not know 2for what reason they had come together. 33And some of the crowd 1concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having amotioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the 2assembly. 34But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single cry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 35Now after calming the crowd, the city clerk *said, “Men of aEphesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from heaven? 36“So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash. 37“For you have brought these men here who are neither arobbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38“So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are in session and 1,aproconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another. 39“But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the 1lawful meeting. 40“For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s events, since there is no cause for which we can give as an account for this disorderly gathering.” 41After saying this he dismissed the meeting.
Through Macedonia and Greece
20Now after the uproar had ceased, Paul having summoned and exhorted athe disciples, said farewell and left bto go to cMacedonia. 2And when he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece. 3And there he spent three months, and when aa plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for bSyria, he decided to return through cMacedonia. 4And he was accompanied by Sopater of aBerea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by bAristarchus and Secundus of the cThessalonians, and dGaius of eDerbe, and fTimothy, and gTychicus and Trophimus of 1Asia. 5But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for aus at bTroas. 6aAnd we sailed from bPhilippi after cthe days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at dTroas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.
Eutychus Raised from the Dead in Troas
7And on athe first day of the week, when bwe were gathered together to cbreak bread, Paul began speaking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his 1message until midnight. 8Now there were many alamps in the bupper room where we were gathered together. 9And there was a young man named 1Eutychus sitting on the windowsill, sinking into a deep sleep. And as Paul kept on talking, he sunk into that sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. 10But Paul went down and afell upon him, and after embracing him, he bsaid, “1Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” 11And when he had gone back up and had abroken the bread and 1eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. 12And they took away the boy alive, and were not a little comforted.
Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders
13But awe, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go 1by land. 14And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. 15And sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to aMiletus. 16For Paul had decided to sail past aEphesus so that he would not have to spend time in 1,bAsia; for he was hurrying cto be in Jerusalem, if possible, don the day of Pentecost.
17Now from Miletus he sent to aEphesus and called to him bthe elders of the church. 18And when they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, afrom the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, 19serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me 1through athe plots of the Jews; 20how I adid not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and 1from house to house, 21solemnly atestifying to both Jews and Greeks about brepentance toward God and cfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22“And now, behold, bound by the 1Spirit, aI am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23except that athe Holy Spirit solemnly btestifies to me in every city, saying that cchains and afflictions await me. 24“But aI do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself, so that I may bfinish my course and cthe ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to dtestify solemnly of the gospel of ethe grace of God.
25“And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about apreaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. 26“Therefore, I 1testify to you this day that aI am 2innocent of the blood of all. 27“For I adid not shrink from declaring to you the whole bpurpose of God. 28“Be on guard for yourselves and for all athe flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you 1overseers, to shepherd bthe church of God which cHe 2purchased 3with His own blood. 29“I know that after my departure asavage wolves will come in among you, not sparing bthe flock; 30and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away athe disciples after them. 31“Therefore be watchful, remembering that night and day for a period of athree years I did not cease to admonish each one bwith tears. 32“And now I acommend you to God and to bthe word of His grace, which is able to cbuild you up and to give you dthe inheritance among all those who have been sanctified. 33“aI have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. 34“You yourselves know that athese hands ministered to my own needs and to those bwho were with me. 35“In everything I showed you that by laboring in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36And when he had said these things, he aknelt down and prayed with them all. 37And 1they began to weep aloud and afalling on Paul’s neck, they were kissing him, 38being in agony especially over athe word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were baccompanying him to the ship.
Paul Sets Out for Jerusalem
21Now when awe had parted from them and had set sail, we came by ba straight course to Cos and the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara; 2and having found a ship crossing over to aPhoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. 3And when we came in sight of aCyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to bSyria and landed at cTyre; for there the ship was to unload its cargo. 4And after looking up athe disciples, we stayed there seven days; and they kept telling Paul bthrough the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. 5And when 1our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, aescorted us until we were out of the city. After bkneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another. 6Then we went on board the ship, and they returned ahome again.
7And when we had finished the voyage from aTyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting bthe brothers, we stayed with them for a day. 8And on the next day we left and came to aCaesarea, and entering the house of bPhilip the cevangelist, who was done of the seven, we stayed with him. 9Now this man had four virgin daughters who aprophesied. 10And as we were staying there for some days, a prophet named aAgabus came down from Judea. 11And coming to us, he atook Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This bis what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will cbind the man who owns this belt and ddeliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” 12And when we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him anot to go up to Jerusalem. 13Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, crying and breaking my heart? For aI am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for bthe name of the Lord Jesus.” 14And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, saying, “aThe will of the Lord be done!”