²⁸ So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. ^(A)And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

¹⁰ And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into ^(A)the barracks.

Paul and the Roman Tribune

²² Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, ^(A)“Away with such a fellow from the earth! For ^(B)he should not be allowed to live.”

³⁰ Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and ^(A)dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

²⁸ When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, ^(A)“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and ^(B)Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's ^(C)companions in travel. ³⁰ But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. ³¹ And even some of the Asiarchs,^[a] who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. ^32 (D)Now 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. ³³ Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, ^(E)motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. ³⁴ But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, ^(F)“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ 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 ^(G)the sky?^{[b] 36} Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. ³⁷ For you have brought ^(H)these men here who are neither ^(I)sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. ³⁸ If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are ^(J)proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. ³⁹ But if you seek anything further,^[c] it shall be settled in the regular assembly. ⁴⁰ 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.” ⁴¹ And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

^5 (A)But the Jews^{[a] (B)}were jealous, and taking ^(C)some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

²² The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders ^(A)to beat them with rods.