Beginning

A year in Corinth

18 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ² There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with Priscilla his wife, due to Claudius’s edict banishing all Jews from Rome. Paul paid them a visit ³ and, because they were in the same business, he stayed with them and worked. They were, by trade, tentmakers.

⁴ Paul argued every sabbath in the synagogue, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. ⁵ When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was putting great energy into the task of bearing forthright witness to the Jews that the Messiah really was Jesus. ⁶ When they opposed him, and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes.

“Your blood be on your own heads!” he said. “I am innocent. From now on I shall go to the Gentiles.”

⁷ He moved on from the synagogue, and went into the house of a man named Titius Justus, a godfearer who lived opposite the synagogue. ⁸ But Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, with all his household, and many of the Corinthians heard about it, came to faith, and were baptized.

⁹ The Lord spoke to Paul by night in a vision.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Speak on, and don’t be silent, ¹⁰ because I am with you, and nobody will be able to lay a finger on you to harm you. There are many of my people in this city.”

¹¹ He stayed there eighteen months, teaching the word of God among them.

Christianity declared legal in Achaea

¹² When Gallio was proconsul of Achaea, the Jews made a concerted attack on Paul, and led him to the official tribunal.

¹³ “This man,” they said, “is teaching people to worship God in illegal ways.”

¹⁴ Paul was getting ready to speak when Gallio intervened.

“Look here, you Jews,” he said to them. “If this was a matter of serious wrongdoing or some wicked villainy, I would receive your plea in the proper way. ¹⁵ But if this is a dispute about words, names and laws within your own customs, you can sort it out among yourselves. I don’t intend to be a judge in such matters.”

¹⁶ Then he dismissed them from the tribunal. ¹⁷ But the crowd seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him right there in front of the tribunal. Gallio, however, totally ignored this.

Apollos in Ephesus and Corinth

¹⁸ Paul stayed on for several more days with the Christians, and then said his farewells and sailed away to Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. In Cenchreae he had his hair cut off, since he was under a vow. ¹⁹ When they arrived at Ephesus he left them there, while he himself went into the synagogue and disputed with the Jews. ²⁰ When they asked him to stay with them for a longer time, he refused, ²¹ and took his leave.

“I will come back to you again,” he said, “if that’s God’s will.”

So he left Ephesus, ²² and went to Caesarea. Then he went up to Jerusalem, greeted the church, and went back to Antioch. ²³ When he had spent some time there, he went off again and traveled from one place to another throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, encouraging all the disciples.

²⁴ Now there arrived in Ephesus a Jew named Apollos, who came from Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, and powerful when it came to expounding scripture. ²⁵ He had received instruction in the Way of the Lord. He was an enthusiastic speaker, and taught the things about Jesus accurately, even though he only knew the baptism of John. ²⁶ He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him to one side and expounded the Way of God to him more accurately.

²⁷ He wanted to go across to Achaea. The Christians in Ephesus, by way of encouragement, wrote letters to the church there to welcome him. On his arrival, his work made a considerable impact, through God’s grace, on the believers, ²⁸ since he openly and powerfully refuted the Jews by demonstrating from the scriptures that the Messiah really was Jesus.

Paul in Ephesus

19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples, ² and said to them, “Did you receive the holy spirit when you believed?”

“We had not heard,” they replied, “that there was a ‘holy spirit.’ ”

³ “Well then,” said Paul, “into what were you baptized?”

“Into John’s baptism,” they replied.

⁴ “John baptized with a baptism of repentance for the people,” said Paul, “speaking about the one who was to come after him, and saying that that person would be the one that people should believe in—and that means Jesus.”

⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of Jesus. ⁶ Paul then laid his hands on them, and the holy spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. ⁷ There were about twelve men in all.

⁸ Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God. ⁹ But when some of them were hard-hearted, and wouldn’t believe, and made wicked allegations about the Way in front of everybody else, Paul left them. He took the disciples with him, and argued every day in the lecture-hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ He did this for two years, so that all the inhabitants of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.

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.

²¹ Once all this had been finished, Paul decided in his spirit to go back through Macedonia and Achaea and, from there, on to Jerusalem.

“After I’ve been there,” he said, “I really must go and see Rome.”

²² He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, on ahead to Macedonia, while he himself spent a little more time in Asia.

“Great is Ephesian Artemis!”

²³ Around that time there was a major disturbance because of the Way. ²⁴ There was a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver statues of Artemis, which brought the workmen a tidy income. ²⁵ He got them all together, along with other workers in the same business.

“Gentlemen,” he began. “You know that the reason we are doing rather well for ourselves is quite simply this business of ours. ²⁶ And now you see, and hear, that this fellow Paul is going around not only Ephesus but pretty well the whole of Asia, persuading the masses to change their way of life, telling them that gods made with hands are not gods after all! ²⁷ This not only threatens to bring our proper business into disrepute, but it might make people disregard the temple of the great goddess Artemis. Then she—and, after all, the whole of Asia, indeed the whole world, worships her!—she might lose her great majesty.”

²⁸ When they heard this, they were filled with rage.

“Great is Ephesian Artemis!” they shouted. “Great is Ephesian Artemis!”

²⁹ The whole city was filled with the uproar; everyone rushed together into the theater, dragging along with them the Macedonians Gaius and Aristarchus, two of Paul’s companions. ³⁰ Paul wanted to go in to speak to the people, but his followers wouldn’t let him. ³¹ Indeed, some of the local magistrates, who were friendly towards him, sent him a message urging him not to risk going into the theater. ³² Meanwhile, some people were shouting one thing, some another. In fact, the whole assembly was thoroughly confused, and most of them had no idea why they had come there in the first place. ³³ The Jews pushed Alexander forward, and some of the crowd informed him what was going on. He motioned with his hand, and was going to make a statement to the people to explain things. ³⁴ But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted together, for about two hours, “Great is Ephesian Artemis!”

³⁵ The town clerk quietened the crowd.

“Men of Ephesus,” he said, “is there anyone who doesn’t know that our city of Ephesus is the place which has the honor of being the home of Artemis the Great, and of the statue that fell from heaven? ³⁶ Nobody can deny it! So you should be quiet, and not do anything rash. ³⁷ You’ve brought these men here, but they haven’t stolen from the temple, or blasphemed our goddess. ³⁸ If Demetrius and his colleagues have a charge they want to bring against anyone, the courts are open and we have magistrates. People can present their cases against one another. ³⁹ But if you are wanting to know anything beyond that, it must be sorted out in the authorized assembly. ⁴⁰ Let me remind you that we ourselves are risking legal proceedings because of this riot today, since there is no reason we could give which would enable us to present a satisfactory explanation for this uproar.”

⁴¹ With these words, he dismissed the assembly.

Round the coast and out of the window

20 After the hue and cry had died down, Paul sent for the disciples. He encouraged them, said his farewells, and set off to go to Macedonia. ² He went through those regions, encouraging them with many words and, arriving in Greece, ³ stayed there three months. He was intending to set sail for Syria, but the Jews made a plot against him, and he decided to return instead through Macedonia.

⁴ He was accompanied on this trip by Sopater, son of Pyrrhus of Beroea; by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; by Gaius from Derbe; and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. ⁵ They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas, ⁶ while we got on board ship at Philippi, after the days of Unleavened Bread, and joined them in Troas five days later. We stayed there for a week.

⁷ On the first day of the week we gathered to break bread. Paul was intending to leave the following morning. He was engaged in discussion with them, and he went on talking up to midnight. ⁸ There were several lamps burning in the upper room where we were gathered. ⁹ A young man named Eutychus was sitting by the window, and was overcome with a deep sleep as Paul went on and on. Once sleep had got the better of him, he fell down out of the third-story window, and was picked up dead.

¹⁰ Paul went down, stooped over him and picked him up.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “There is life still in him.”

¹¹ He went back upstairs, broke bread and ate with them, and continued speaking until dawn. Then he left. ¹² They took up the young man alive and were very much comforted.

Paul the pastor looks back—and looks on

¹³ We went on ahead to the ship and set off for Assos, with the intention of picking Paul up there (he had decided that he would walk to that point). ¹⁴ When we arrived at Assos, we picked him up and went on to Mitylene, ¹⁵ and from there we sailed on the next day and arrived opposite Chios. The following day we got near to Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus. ¹⁶ Paul had decided, you see, to pass by Ephesus, so that he wouldn’t have to spend more time in Asia. He was eager to get to Jerusalem, if he could, in time for the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷ From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church, ¹⁸ and they came to him.

“You know very well,” he began, “how I have behaved with you all the time, since the first day I arrived in Asia. ¹⁹ I have served the Lord with all humility, with the tears and torments that came upon me because of the plots of the Jews. ²⁰ You know that I kept back nothing that would have been helpful to you, preaching to you and teaching you both in public and from house to house. ²¹ I bore witness both to Jews and Greeks about repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

²² “And now, look, I am going to Jerusalem, bound by the spirit. I have no idea what’s going to happen to me there, ²³ but only that the holy spirit testifies to me in city after city that captivity and trouble are in store for me. ²⁴ But I don’t reckon my life at any value, so long as I can finish my course, and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵ “So now,” he went on, “I have gone to and fro preaching the kingdom among you, but I know that none of you will ever see my face again. ²⁶ Therefore I bear witness to you this very day that I am innocent of everyone’s blood, ²⁷ since I did not shrink from declaring to you God’s entire plan.”

Watch out for yourselves, the flock and the wolves

²⁸ “Watch out for yourselves,” Paul continued, “and for the whole flock, in which the holy spirit has appointed you as guardians, to feed the church of God, which he purchased with his very own blood. ²⁹ I know that fierce wolves will come in after I am gone, and they won’t spare the flock. ³⁰ Yes, even from among yourselves people will arise, saying things which will distort the truth, and they will draw the disciples away after them. ³¹ Therefore keep watch, and remember that for three years, night and day, I didn’t stop warning each of you, with tears.

³² “So now I commit you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those whom God has sanctified. ³³ I never coveted anyone’s silver, or gold, or clothes. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these very hands worked to serve my own needs and those of the people with me. ³⁵ I showed you in all such matters that this is how we should work to help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, as he put it, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

³⁶ When he had said this, he knelt down with them all and prayed. ³⁷ There was great lamentation among them all, and they fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him. ³⁸ They were particularly sorry to hear the word he had spoken about never seeing his face again.

Then they brought him to the ship.