Paul in Ephesus

19 While Apollos^(A) was at Corinth,^(B) Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus.^(C) There he found some disciples

¹² Now about our brother Apollos:^(A) I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.

¹² What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”;^(A) another, “I follow Apollos”;^(B) another, “I follow Cephas^[a]”;^(C) still another, “I follow Christ.”

In Corinth

18 After this, Paul left Athens^(A) and went to Corinth.^(B)

⁴ For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,”^(A) are you not mere human beings?

⁵ What, after all, is Apollos?^(B) And what is Paul? Only servants,^(C) through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. ⁶ I planted the seed,^(D) Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

²³ After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia^(A) and Phrygia,^(B) strengthening all the disciples.^(C)

²⁴ Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos,^(D) a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.^(E) He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. ²⁵ He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor^[a](F) and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.^{(G) 26} He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila^(H) heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

²⁷ When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia,^(I) the brothers and sisters^(J) encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. ²⁸ For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures^(K) that Jesus was the Messiah.^(L)

¹⁹ They arrived at Ephesus,^(A) where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. ²⁰ When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. ²¹ But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.”^(B) Then he set sail from Ephesus.