Book of Common Prayer

12 Adonai sent Natan to David. He came and said to him, “In a certain city there were two men, one rich, the other poor. ² The rich man had vast flocks and herds; ³ but the poor man had nothing, except for one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and reared. It had grown up with him and his children; it ate from his plate, drank from his cup, lay on his chest — it was like a daughter to him. ⁴ One day a traveler visited the rich man, and instead of picking an animal from his own flock or herd to cook for his visitor, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to him.”

⁵ David exploded with anger against the man and said to Natan, “As Adonai lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ For doing such a thing, he has to pay back four times the value of the lamb — and also because he had no pity.”

⁷ Natan said to David, “You are the man.

“Here is what Adonai, the God of Isra’el says: ‘I anointed you king over Isra’el. I rescued you from the power of Sha’ul. ⁸ I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives to embrace. I gave you the house of Isra’el and the house of Y’hudah. And if that had been too little, I would have added to you a lot more.

⁹ “‘So why have you shown such contempt for the word of Adonai and done what I see as evil? You murdered Uriyah the Hitti with the sword and taken his wife as your own wife; you put him to death with the sword of the people of ‘Amon. ¹⁰ Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house — because you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriyah the Hitti as your own wife.’ ¹¹ Here is what Adonai says: ‘I will generate evil against you out of your own household. I will take your wives before your very eyes and give them to your neighbor; he will go to bed with your wives, and everyone will know about it. ¹² For you did it secretly, but I will do this before all Isra’el in broad daylight.’”

¹³ David said to Natan, “I have sinned against Adonai.”

Natan said to David, “Adonai also has taken away your sin. You will not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this act you have so greatly blasphemed Adonai, the child born to you must die.”

²¹ Some time later, Sha’ul decided by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and then go to Yerushalayim. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome.” ²² So he dispatched two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia; but he himself remained in the province of Asia for awhile.

²³ It was at this time that a major furor arose concerning the Way. ²⁴ There was a silversmith named Demetrius who manufactured from silver, objects connected with the worship of the goddess Artemis; and he provided no small amount of work for the craftsmen. ²⁵ He called a meeting of them and of those engaged in similar trades, and said, “Men, you understand that this line of business provides us our living. ²⁶ And you can see and hear for yourselves that not only here in Ephesus, but in practically the whole province of Asia, this Sha’ul has convinced and turned away a considerable crowd by saying that man-made gods aren’t gods at all. ²⁷ Now the danger is not only that the reputation of our trade will suffer, but that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will come to be taken lightly. It could end up with the goddess herself, who is worshipped throughout the province of Asia and indeed throughout the whole world, being ignominiously brought down from her divine majesty!”

²⁸ Hearing this, they were filled with rage and began bellowing, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ Soon the whole city was in an uproar. As one man, the mob rushed into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Sha’ul’s traveling companions from Macedonia. ³⁰ Sha’ul himself wanted to appear before the crowd, but the talmidim wouldn’t let him. ³¹ Even some of the officials of the province, friends of his, sent a message begging him not to risk entering the theater. ³² Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing and others something else, because the assembly was in complete confusion, and the great majority didn’t even know why they were there. ³³ Some of the crowd explained the situation to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed to the front. So Alexander motioned for silence, hoping to make a defense speech to the people. ³⁴ But as soon as they recognized that he was a Jew, they began bellowing in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” and they kept it up for about two hours.

³⁵ At last, the city clerk was able to quiet the crowd. “Men of Ephesus!” he said, “Is there anyone who doesn’t know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone which fell from the sky? ³⁶ Since this is beyond dispute, you had better calm down and not do anything rash. ³⁷ For you have brought these men here who have neither robbed the temple nor insulted your goddess. ³⁸ So if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open and the judges are there — let them bring charges and counter-charges. ³⁹ But if there is something more you want, it will have to be settled in a lawful assembly. ⁴⁰ For we are in danger of being accused of rioting on account of what has happened today. There is no justification for it; and if we are asked, we will be unable to give any reasonable explanation for this disorderly gathering.” ⁴¹ And with these words, he dismissed the assembly.

¹⁴ When they got back to the talmidim, they saw a large crowd around them and some Torah-teachers arguing with them. ¹⁵ As soon as the crowd saw him, they were surprised and ran out to greet him. ¹⁶ He asked them, “What’s the discussion about?” ¹⁷ One of the crowd gave him the answer: “Rabbi, I brought my son to you because he has an evil spirit in him that makes him unable to talk. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground — he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth and becomes stiff all over. I asked your talmidim to drive the spirit out, but they couldn’t do it.” ¹⁹ “People without any trust!” he responded. “How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me!” ²⁰ They brought the boy to him; and as soon as the spirit saw him, it threw the boy into a convulsion. ²¹ Yeshua asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been happening to him?” “Ever since childhood,” he said; ²² “and it often tries to kill him by throwing him into the fire or into the water. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us!” ²³ Yeshua said to him, “What do you mean, ‘if you can’? Everything is possible to someone who has trust!” ²⁴ Instantly the father of the child exclaimed, “I do trust — help my lack of trust!” ²⁵ When Yeshua saw that the crowd was closing in on them, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and dumb spirit! I command you: come out of him, and never go back into him again!” ²⁶ Shrieking and throwing the boy into a violent fit, it came out. The boy lay there like a corpse, so that most of the people said he was dead. ²⁷ But Yeshua took him by the hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up.

²⁸ After Yeshua had gone indoors, his talmidim asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” ²⁹ He said to them “This is the kind of spirit that can be driven out only by prayer.”