Acts 17-19

21st Century King James Version

17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

² And Paul, as was his custom, went in unto them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

³ expounding and alleging that it was necessary for Christ to have suffered and risen again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ.”

⁴ And some of them believed, and joined themselves with Paul and Silas, as did a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and of the chief women not a few.

⁵ But the Jews who believed not, moved with envy, engaged certain wicked fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a crowd and set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people.

⁶ And when they found them not, they dragged Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, “These that have turned the world upside down have come hither also,

⁷ and Jason hath received them; and they all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.”

⁸ And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.

⁹ And when they had taken security from Jason and the others, they let them go.

¹⁰ And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who arriving there, went into the synagogue of the Jews.

¹¹ These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with allreadiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so.

¹² Therefore many of them believed, also honorable women who were Greeks, and of men not a few.

¹³ But when the Jews of Thessalonica became aware that the Word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the people.

¹⁴ And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go down to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there still.

¹⁵ And those who conducted Paul brought him unto Athens and, having received direction for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

¹⁶ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

¹⁷ Therefore he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the marketplace daily with those who met with him.

¹⁸ Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him. And some said, “What will this babbler say?” And some others said, “He seemeth to be a proclaimer of strange gods,” because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ And they took him and brought him unto the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is whereof thou speakest?

²⁰ For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears, and we would know therefore what these things mean.”

²¹ (For all the Athenians and strangers who were there spent their time in nothing else than either telling or hearing some new thing.)

²² Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ Hill and said, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

²³ For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription: ‘To the Unknown God’. Whom therefore ye worship in ignorance, Him I declare unto you.

²⁴ God who made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of Heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.

²⁵ Neither is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.

²⁶ And He hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation,

²⁷ that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us.

²⁸ For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as also certain of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

²⁹ “For inasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and of man’s devising.

³⁰ The times of this ignorance God overlooked, but now He commandeth all men everywhere to repent,

³¹ because He hath appointed a Day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained. Of this He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”

³² But when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked and others said, “We will hear thee again on this matter.”

³³ So Paul departed from among them.

³⁴ However, certain men cleaved unto him and believed, among whom were Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

18 After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth.

² There he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus and lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. Paul went unto them,

³ and because he was of the same craft, he lodged with them and worked; for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

⁴ And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

⁵ And when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

⁶ But when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.”

⁷ And he departed thence and entered into a certain man’s house named Justus, one who worshiped God and whose house was adjoining the synagogue.

⁸ And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, with all his house. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Paul in the night through a vision, saying, “Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace.

¹⁰ For I am with thee, and no man shall set upon thee to hurt thee, for I have many people in this city.”

¹¹ And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them.

¹² And when Gallio was deputy of Achaia, the Jews with one accord began an insurrection against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,

¹³ saying, “This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.”

¹⁴ And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would have it that I should bear with you.

¹⁵ But if it be a question of words and names and your own law, look ye to it; for I will not be judge of such matters.”

¹⁶ And he drove them from the judgment seat.

¹⁷ Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was concerned about none of those things.

¹⁸ And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head at Cenchrea, for he had made a vow.

¹⁹ And he came to Ephesus and left them there, but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

²⁰ When they desired him to tarry a longer time with them, he consented not,

²¹ but bade them farewell, saying, “I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem, but I will return again unto you, if God wills.” And he sailed from Ephesus.

²² And when he had landed at Caesarea and had gone up and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.

²³ And after he had spent some time there, he departed and went through all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴ And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.

²⁵ This man was instructed in the Way of the Lord; and being fervent in the Spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.

²⁶ And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla had heard him, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the Way of God more perfectly.

²⁷ And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him. And when he had come, he helped them much who had believed through grace;

²⁸ for he mightily refuted the Jews (and that publicly), showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

19 And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus; and finding certain disciples,

² he said unto them, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost, having believed?” And they said unto him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is any Holy Ghost.”

³ And he said unto them, “Unto what then were ye baptized?” And they said, “Unto John’s baptism.”

⁴ Then said Paul, “John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe in Him who should come after him, that is, in Christ Jesus.”

⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

⁷ And there were about twelve men in all.

⁸ And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading about the things concerning the Kingdom of God.

⁹ But when divers ones were hardened and believed not, but spoke evil of that Way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.

¹⁰ And this continued for the space of two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹ And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul,

¹² so that handkerchiefs or aprons from his body were brought unto the sick, and the diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them.

¹³ Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took it upon themselves to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.”

¹⁴ And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew and chief of the priests, who did so.

¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?”

¹⁶ And the man in whom the evil spirit dwelt leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷ And this became known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling in Ephesus, and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

¹⁸ And many who believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds.

¹⁹ Many of those also who used occult arts brought their books together and burned them before all men; and they counted up the price of them, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰ So the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed.

²¹ After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

²² So he sent into Macedonia two of those who had ministered unto him, Timothy and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.

²³ And the same time, there arose no small stir about that Way.

²⁴ For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen.

²⁵ These he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, “Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.

²⁶ Moreover, ye see and hear that, not alone at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands,

²⁷ so that not only this our craft is in danger of being set at nought, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth.”

²⁸ And when they heard these things, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”

²⁹ And the whole city was filled with confusion and, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia who were Paul’s companions in his travel, they rushed with one accord into the theater.

³⁰ And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.

³¹ And certain of the Asian chiefs, who were his friends, sent unto him, urging that he would not venture into the theater.

³² Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the greater part knew not why they had come together.

³³ And they drew Alexander out from the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with his hand, and would have made his defense unto the people;

³⁴ but when they perceived that he was a Jew, all with one voice for about the space of two hours cried out, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ And when the town clerk had appeased the people, he said, “Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there who knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is a worshiper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

³⁶ Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly;

³⁷ for ye have brought hither these men who are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.

³⁸ Therefore if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a matter against any man, the law is open and there are deputies. Let them implead one another.

³⁹ But if ye inquire of anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.

⁴⁰ For we are in danger of being called in question for this day’s uproar, there being no cause whereby we can give an account of this concourse.”

⁴¹ And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.