Acts 18-20 (Amplified Bible)

Acts 18

 ¹AFTER THIS [Paul] departed from Athens and went to Corinth.

    ²There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently arrived from Italy with Priscilla his wife, due to the fact that Claudius had issued an edict that all the Jews were to leave Rome. And [Paul] went to see them,

    ³And because he was of the same occupation, he stayed with them; and they worked [together], for they were tentmakers by trade.

    ⁴But he discoursed and argued in the synagogue every Sabbath and won over [both] Jews and Greeks.

    ⁵By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was completely engrossed with preaching, earnestly arguing and testifying to the Jews that Jesus [is] the Christ.

    ⁶But since they kept opposing and abusing and reviling him, he shook out his clothing [against them] and said to them, Your blood be upon your [own] heads! I am innocent [of it]. From now on I will go to the Gentiles (the heathen).^(A)

    ⁷He then left there and went to the house of a man named Titus Justus, who worshiped God and whose house was next door to the synagogue.

    ⁸But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed [that Jesus is the Messiah and acknowledged Him with joyful trust as Savior and Lord], together with his entire household; and many of the Corinthians who listened [to Paul also] believed and were baptized.

    ⁹And one night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, Have no fear, but speak and do not keep silent;

    ¹⁰For I am with you, and no man shall assault you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.^(B)

    ¹¹So he settled down among them for a year and six months, teaching the Word of God [concerning the ^[a]attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God].

    ¹²But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia (most of Greece), the Jews unitedly made an attack upon Paul and brought him before the judge's seat,

    ¹³Declaring, This fellow is advising and inducing and inciting people to worship God in violation of the ^[b]Law [of Rome and of Moses].

    ¹⁴But when Paul was about to open his mouth to reply, Gallio said to the Jews, If it were a matter of some misdemeanor or villainy, O Jews, I should have cause to bear with you and listen;

    ¹⁵But since it is merely a question [of doctrine] about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I decline to be a judge of such matters and I have no intention of trying such cases.

    ¹⁶And he drove them away from the judgment seat.

    ¹⁷Then they [the Greeks] all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him right in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

    ¹⁸Afterward Paul remained many days longer, and then told the brethren farewell and sailed for Syria; and he was accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he [^[c]Paul] cut his hair, for he had made a vow.

    ¹⁹Then they arrived in Ephesus, and [Paul] left the others there; but he himself entered the synagogue and discoursed and argued with the Jews.

    ²⁰When they asked him to remain for a longer time, he would not consent;

    ²¹But when he was leaving them he said, I will return to you if God is willing, and he set sail from Ephesus.

    ²²When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and saluted the church [at Jerusalem], and then went down to Antioch.

    ²³After staying there some time, he left and went from place to place in an orderly journey through the territory of Galatia and Phrygia, establishing the disciples and imparting new strength to them.

    ²⁴Meanwhile, there was a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, who came to Ephesus. He was a cultured and eloquent man, well versed and mighty in the Scriptures.

    ²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and burning with spiritual zeal, he spoke and taught diligently and accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he was acquainted only with the baptism of John.

    ²⁶He began to speak freely (fearlessly and boldly) in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him with them and expounded to him the way of God more definitely and accurately.

    ²⁷And when [Apollos] wished to cross to Achaia (most of Greece), the brethren wrote to the disciples there, urging and encouraging them to accept and welcome him heartily. When he arrived, he proved a great help to those who through grace (God's unmerited favor and mercy) had believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Christ as Lord and Savior).

    ²⁸For with great power he refuted the Jews in public [discussions], showing and proving by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah).

   

Acts 19

 ¹WHILE APOLLOS was in Corinth, Paul went through the upper inland districts and came down to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.

    ²And he asked them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed [on Jesus as the Christ]? And they said, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

    ³And he asked, Into what [baptism] then were you baptized? They said, Into John's baptism.

    ⁴And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, continually telling the people that they should believe in the One Who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus [having a conviction full of joyful trust that He is Christ, the Messiah, and being obedient to Him].

    ⁵On hearing this they were baptized [again, this time] in the name of the Lord Jesus.

    ⁶And as Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke in [foreign, unknown] tongues (languages) and prophesied.

    ⁷There were about twelve of them in all.

    ⁸And he went into the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, persuading and arguing and pleading about the kingdom of God.

    ⁹But when some became more and more stubborn (hardened and unbelieving), discrediting and reviling and speaking evil of the Way [of the Lord] before the congregation, he separated himself from them, taking the disciples with him, and went on holding daily discussions in the lecture room of Tyrannus from about ten o'clock till three.

    ¹⁰This continued for two years, so that all the inhabitants of [the province of] Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, heard the Word of the Lord [concerning the ^[d]attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God].

    ¹¹And God did unusual and extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

    ¹²So that handkerchiefs or towels or aprons which had touched his skin were carried away and put upon the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

    ¹³Then some of the traveling Jewish exorcists (men who adjure evil spirits) also undertook to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I solemnly implore and charge you by the Jesus Whom Paul preaches!

    ¹⁴Seven sons of a certain Jewish chief priest named Sceva were doing this.

    ¹⁵But [one] evil spirit retorted, Jesus I know, and Paul I know ^[e]about, but who are you?

    ¹⁶Then the man in whom the evil spirit dwelt leaped upon them, mastering ^[f]two of them, and was so violent against them that they dashed out of that house [in fear], stripped naked and wounded.

    ¹⁷This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and alarm and terror fell upon them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled and magnified.

    ¹⁸Many also of those who were now believers came making ^[g]full confession and thoroughly exposing their [former deceptive and evil] practices.

    ¹⁹And many of those who had practiced curious, magical arts collected their books and [throwing them, ^[h]book after book, on the pile] burned them in the sight of everybody. When they counted the value of them, they found it amounted to 50,000 pieces of silver (^[i]about $9,300).

    ²⁰Thus the Word of the Lord [concerning the ^[j]attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] grew and spread and intensified, prevailing mightily.

    ²¹Now after these events Paul determined in the [Holy] Spirit that he would travel through Macedonia and Achaia (most of Greece) and go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must visit Rome also.

    ²²And having sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, he himself stayed on in [the province of] Asia for a while.

    ²³But as time went on, there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way [of the Lord].

    ²⁴For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of [the goddess] Artemis ^[k][Diana], brought no small income to his craftsmen.

    ²⁵These he called together, along with the workmen of similar trades, and said, Men, you are acquainted with the facts and understand that from this business we derive our wealth and livelihood.

    ²⁶Now you notice and hear that not only at Ephesus but almost all over [the province of] Asia this Paul has persuaded and induced people to believe his teaching and has alienated a considerable company of them, saying that gods that are made with human hands are not really gods at all.

    ²⁷Now there is danger not merely that this trade of ours may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may come into disrepute and count for nothing, and that her glorious magnificence may be degraded and fall into contempt--she whom all [the province of Asia] and the wide world worship.

    ²⁸As they listened to this, they were filled with rage and they continued to shout, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!

    ²⁹Then the city was filled with confusion; and they rushed together into the amphitheater, dragging along with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were fellow travelers with Paul.

    ³⁰Paul wished to go in among the crowd, but the disciples would not permit him to do it.

    ³¹Even some of the Asiarchs (political or religious officials in Asia) who were his friends also sent to him and warned him not to risk venturing into the theater.

    ³²Now some shouted one thing and some another, for the gathering was in a tumult and most of them did not know why they had come together.

    ³³Some of the crowd called upon Alexander [to speak], since the Jews had pushed and urged him forward. And Alexander motioned with his hand, wishing to make a defense and [planning] to apologize to the people.

    ³⁴But as soon as they saw him and recognized that he was a Jew, a shout went up from them as the voice of one man, as for about two hours they cried, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!

    ³⁵And when the town clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the sacred stone [image of her] that fell from the sky?

    ³⁶Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet (keep yourselves in check) and do nothing rashly.

    ³⁷For you have brought these men here, who are [guilty of] neither temple robberies nor blasphemous speech about our goddess.

    ³⁸Now then, if Demetrius and his fellow tradesmen who are with him have a grievance against anyone, the courts are open and proconsuls are [available]; let them bring charges against one another [legally].

    ³⁹But if you require anything further about this or about other matters, it must be decided and cleared up in the regular assembly.

    ⁴⁰For we are in danger of being called to render an account and of being accused of rioting because of [this commotion] today, there being no reason that we can offer to justify this disorder.

    ⁴¹And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

   

Acts 20

 ¹AFTER THE uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and warned and consoled and urged and encouraged them; then he embraced them and told them farewell and set forth on his journey to Macedonia.

    ²Then after he had gone through those districts and had warned and consoled and urged and encouraged the brethren with much discourse, he came to Greece.

    ³Having spent three months there, when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he resolved to go back through Macedonia.

    ⁴He was accompanied by Sopater the son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, and by the Thessalonians Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy, and the Asians Tychicus and Trophimus.

    ⁵These went on ahead and were waiting for us [including Luke] at Troas,

    ⁶But we [ourselves] sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread [the Passover week], and in five days we joined them at Troas, where we remained for seven days.

    ⁷And on the first day of the week, when we were assembled together to break bread [^[l]the Lord's Supper], Paul discoursed with them, intending to leave the next morning; and he kept on with his message until midnight.

    ⁸Now there were numerous lights in the upper room where we were assembled,

    ⁹And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting in the window. He was borne down with deep sleep as Paul kept on talking still longer, and [finally] completely overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

    ¹⁰But Paul went down and bent over him and embraced him, saying, Make no ado; his life is within him.

    ¹¹When Paul had gone back upstairs and had broken bread and eaten [with them], and after he had talked confidentially and communed with them for a considerable time--until daybreak [in fact]--he departed.

    ¹²They took the youth home alive, and were not a little comforted and cheered and refreshed and encouraged.

    ¹³But going on ahead to the ship, the rest of us set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for that was what he had directed, intending himself to go by land [on foot].

    ¹⁴So when he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and sailed on to Mitylene.

    ¹⁵And sailing from there, we arrived the day after at a point opposite Chios; the following day we struck across to Samos, and the next day we arrived at Miletus.

    ¹⁶For Paul had determined to sail on past Ephesus, lest he might have to spend time [unnecessarily] in [the province of] Asia; for he was hastening on so that he might reach Jerusalem, if at all possible, by the day of Pentecost.

    ¹⁷However, from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church [to come to him there].

    ¹⁸And when they arrived he said to them: You yourselves are well acquainted with my manner of living among you from the first day that I set foot in [the province of] Asia, and how I continued afterward,

    ¹⁹Serving the Lord with all humility in tears and in the midst of adversity (affliction and trials) which befell me, due to the plots of the Jews [against me];

    ²⁰How I did not shrink from telling you anything that was for your benefit and teaching you in public meetings and from house to house,

    ²¹But constantly and earnestly I bore testimony both to Jews and Greeks, urging them to turn in repentance [^[m]that is due] to God and to have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ [^[n]that is due Him].

    ²²And now, you see, I am going to Jerusalem, bound by the [Holy] Spirit and obligated and compelled by the [convictions of my own] spirit, not knowing what will befall me there--

    ²³Except that the Holy Spirit clearly and emphatically affirms to me in city after city that imprisonment and suffering await me.

    ²⁴But none of these things move me; neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have obtained from [which was entrusted to me by] the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news (Gospel) of God's grace (His unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy).

    ²⁵And now, observe, I perceive that all of you, among whom I have gone in and out proclaiming the kingdom, will see my face no more.

    ²⁶Therefore I testify and protest to you on this [our parting] day that I am clean and innocent and not responsible for the blood of any of you.

    ²⁷For I never shrank or kept back or fell short from declaring to you the whole purpose and plan and counsel of God.

    ²⁸Take care and be on guard for yourselves and the whole flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you bishops and guardians, to shepherd (tend and feed and guide) the church of the Lord or ^[o]of God which He obtained for Himself [buying it and saving it for Himself] with His own blood.

    ²⁹I know that after I am gone, ferocious wolves will get in among you, not sparing the flock;

    ³⁰Even from among your own selves men will come to the front who, by saying perverse (distorted and corrupt) things, will endeavor to draw away the disciples after them [to their own party].

    ³¹Therefore be always alert and on your guard, being mindful that for three years I never stopped night or day seriously to admonish and advise and exhort you one by one with tears.

    ³²And now [brethren], I commit you to God [I deposit you in His charge, entrusting you to His protection and care]. And I commend you to the Word of His grace [to the commands and counsels and promises of His unmerited favor]. It is able to build you up and to give you [your rightful] inheritance among all God's set-apart ones (those consecrated, purified, and transformed of soul).

    ³³I coveted no man's silver or gold or [costly] garments.

    ³⁴You yourselves know personally that these hands ministered to my own needs and those [of the persons] who were with me.

    ³⁵In everything I have pointed out to you [by example] that, by working diligently in this manner, we ought to assist the weak, being mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, It is more blessed (makes one happier and more ^[p]to be envied) to give than to receive.

    ³⁶Having spoken thus, he knelt down with them all and prayed.

    ³⁷And they all wept freely and threw their arms around Paul's neck and kissed him fervently and repeatedly,

    ³⁸Being especially distressed and sorrowful because he had stated that they were about to see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.