22 So after sending two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.(A)

23 During that time there was a major[a] disturbance about the Way.(B) 24 For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis,[b] provided a great deal of[c] business for the craftsmen. 25 When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said: “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business. 26 You both see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods!(C) 27 So not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world adore.”

28 When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 19:23 Lit was not a little
  2. Acts 19:24 Artemis was the ancient Gk mother goddess believed to control all fertility.
  3. Acts 19:24 Lit provided not a little

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