Acts 18-20

21st Century King James Version

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.

20 And after the uproar had ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed to go into Macedonia.

² And when he had gone through those parts and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece.

³ And there he abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail for Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia.

⁴ And there accompanied him into Asia, Sopater of Berea, and Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and from Asia, Tychichus and Trophimus.

⁵ These, going ahead, tarried for us at Troas.

⁶ And we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread and came unto them in five days at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

⁷ And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight.

⁸ And there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together.

⁹ And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, having fallen into a deep sleep; and as Paul was long in preaching, he sank down with sleep and fell down from the third floor and was taken up dead.

¹⁰ And Paul went down and fell on him and, embracing him, said, “Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him.”

¹¹ When he therefore had come up again, and had broken bread and eaten and talked for a long while, even until break of day, he departed.

¹² And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.

¹³ And we went ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, there intending to take aboard Paul; for so had he arranged, intending himself to go on foot.

¹⁴ And when he met with us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene.

¹⁵ And we sailed thence and arrived the next day off Chios; and the next day we arrived at Samos and tarried at Trogyllium; and the next day we came to Miletus.

¹⁶ For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia; for he was in haste, that it might be possible for him to be at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷ And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called for the elders of the church.

¹⁸ And when they had come to him, he said unto them, “Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, in what manner I have been with you in all seasons,

¹⁹ serving the Lord in all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations which befell me through the lying in wait of the Jews;

²⁰ and how I kept back nothing that was profitable for you, but have shown you and have taught you publicly and from house to house,

²¹ testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

²² And now behold, bound by the Spirit, I go unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there,

²³ save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.

²⁴ But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵ “And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.

²⁶ Therefore I attest to you this day that I am pure from the blood of all men,

²⁷ for I have not shrunk from declaring unto you all the counsel of God.

²⁸ “Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood.

²⁹ For I know this: that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

³⁰ Also from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.

³¹ Therefore watch, and remember that for the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears.

³² “And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

³³ I have coveted no man’s silver or gold or apparel.

³⁴ Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my own necessities, and also to those who were with me.

³⁵ I have shown you all things, how that by so laboring ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all.

³⁷ And they all wept sorely and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him,

³⁸ sorrowing most of all because of the words which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.