Book of Common Prayer
The power of God and the powers at Ephesus
11 God performed unusual works of power through Paul’s hands. 12 People used to take handkerchiefs or towels that had touched his skin and put them on the sick, and then their diseases would leave them and evil spirits would depart.
13 There were some traveling Jewish exorcists who tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on people with evil spirits.
“I command you,” they used to say, “in the name of Jesus, the one Paul proclaims!”
14 There were seven of them who used to do this. They were the sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest. 15 But on one occasion the evil spirit answered them back.
“I know Jesus,” it shouted, “and I am well acquainted with Paul; but who are you?”
16 The man who had the evil spirit pounced on them and, since he was much too strong for them, overpowered all of them, so that they fled out of the house naked and battered. 17 This became common knowledge among both Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus. Fear came on all of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus grew greatly in prestige.
18 Many people who became believers came forward to make public confession, revealing what they had been up to. 19 Some who had been practicing magic brought their books and burnt them in front of everyone; someone calculated how much they were all worth, and it came to fifty thousand silver pieces. 20 So the word grew and was strong, in accordance with the Lord’s power.
The transfiguration
2 A week later, Jesus took Peter, James and John away by themselves, and went up a high mountain. There he was transformed before their eyes. 3 His clothes shone with a whiteness that no laundry on earth could match. 4 Elijah appeared to them, and Moses too, and they were talking with Jesus.
5 “Teacher,” said Peter as he saw this, “it’s great to be here! Let’s make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah!” 6 (He didn’t know what to say; they were terrified.)
7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is my son, the one I love. Listen to him!”
8 Then, quite suddenly, they looked round and saw nobody there anymore, only Jesus with them.
9 As they came down the mountain, Jesus instructed them not to talk to anyone about what they had seen, “until,” he said, “the son of man has been raised from the dead.” 10 They held on to this saying among themselves, puzzling about what this “rising from the dead” might mean.
11 “Why then,” they asked him, “do the legal experts say ‘Elijah must come first’?”
12 “Elijah does come first,” he replied, “and his job is to put everything straight. But what do you think it means that ‘the son of man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt’? 13 Actually, listen to this: Elijah has already come, and they did to him whatever they wanted. That’s what scripture said about him.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.