Beginning

Paul Goes to Corinth

18 After that Paul went from the city of Athens and came to the city of Corinth. ² He met a Jew there named Aquila who was born in the country of Pontus. He had lived in the country of Italy a short time. His wife Priscilla was with him. Claudius, who was the leader of the country, had told all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see Aquila and Priscilla. ³ They made tents for a living. Paul did the same kind of work so he stayed with them and they worked together.

⁴ Every Day of Rest he would go to the Jewish place of worship and teach both Jews and Greeks. ⁵ Silas and Timothy came down from the country of Macedonia. Then Paul used all his time preaching to the Jews. He taught that Jesus was the Christ. ⁶ But they worked against Paul and said bad things about him. He shook his clothes and said, “Whatever happens to you is your own doing. I am free from your guilt. From now on I will go to the people who are not Jews.”

⁷ Paul went from there and came to the house of a man named Titus Justus who worshiped God. His house was next to the Jewish place of worship. ⁸ Crispus was the leader of the Jewish place of worship. He and his family believed in the Lord. Many of the people of Corinth who heard Paul became Christians and were baptized.

⁹ Paul saw the Lord in a dream one night. He said to Paul, “Do not be afraid. Keep speaking. Do not close your mouth. ¹⁰ I am with you. No one will hurt you. I have many people in this city who belong to Me.” ¹¹ For a year and a half Paul stayed there and taught them the Word of God.

¹² Gallio was leader of the country of Greece. All the Jews worked against Paul and brought him in front of the court. ¹³ They said, “This man is trying to get people to worship God against the Law.” ¹⁴ Paul was ready to speak, but Gallio said to the Jews, “If this were something bad or a wrong doing, I would listen to you. ¹⁵ But because it is about words and names and your own Law, you will have to take care of it yourselves. I do not want to judge who is right or wrong in things like this.” ¹⁶ And he sent them out of his court.

¹⁷ Then all the Greek people took Sosthenes, the leader of the Jewish place of worship, and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio did not let this trouble him.

Paul Goes Back to Antioch

¹⁸ Paul stayed in Corinth many days longer. Then he said good-bye and left the followers. He went by ship to the country of Syria with Priscilla and Aquila going with him. In the city of Cenchrea he had his hair cut short because of a promise he had made to God. ¹⁹ They came to the city of Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquila stayed there. Paul went to the Jewish place of worship and argued with the Jews. ²⁰ They wanted him to stay longer but he would not. ²¹ As he left them, he said, (*“I must go to the special supper at Jerusalem.) I will return again to you if God wants me to.” Then he got on a ship and left Ephesus. ²² He stopped in the city of Caesarea to greet the people in the church. Then he went down to the city of Antioch. ²³ Paul stayed there for some time. Then he went from city to city through the countries of Galatia and Phrygia. In each place he helped the Christians become strong in the faith.

Aquila and Priscilla Help Apollos in Ephesus

²⁴ A Jew by the name of Apollos had come to Ephesus. He was from the city of Alexandria. He could talk to people about the Holy Writings very well. ²⁵ He had been taught in the way of the Lord. And with a strong desire in his heart, he taught about Jesus. What he said was true, but he knew only about the baptism of John.

²⁶ He began to speak without fear in the Jewish place of worship. Aquila and Priscilla heard him. They took him to their house and taught him much more about the things of God. ²⁷ Apollos wanted to cross over to Greece. The Christians wrote a letter to the followers there asking them to be good to him. When he got there, he was much help to those who had put their trust in Christ. ²⁸ In front of everyone he proved with great power that the Jews were wrong. He showed from the Holy Writings that Jesus was the Christ.

Christians in Ephesus Are Filled with the Holy Spirit

19 While Apollos was in the city of Corinth, Paul went through the hill country to get to the city of Ephesus. He found a few followers there. ² He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you put your trust in Christ?” They said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ³ He asked them, “How were you baptized?” They answered, “The way John baptized.” ⁴ Paul said, “John baptized those who were sorry for their sins and turned from them. He told the people to put their trust in Jesus Who was coming later.”

⁵ The people there were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus when they heard this. ⁶ When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them. They started to talk in special sounds and to speak God’s Word. ⁷ There were about twelve men.

Paul Preaches in a Place of Worship and in a School in Ephesus

⁸ For three months Paul went into the Jewish place of worship and spoke without fear. He taught them things about the holy nation of God. ⁹ Some let their hearts grow hard. They would not put their trust in Christ. These spoke against the Christian religion in front of other people. Then Paul took the followers away from the others. He taught them each day in the school of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ He did this for two years. All the Jews and the Greeks in the countries of Asia heard the Word of the Lord.

Paul Does Powerful Works

¹¹ God used Paul to do powerful special works. ¹² Pieces of cloth and parts of his clothes that had been next to his body were put on sick people. Then they were healed of their diseases and demons came out of them.

¹³ There were Jews who went from city to city trying to put demons out of people. Some of these tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had demons. They said, “I speak to you in the name of Jesus, the One Paul preaches about.” ¹⁴ A Jewish leader of the people by the name of Sceva had seven sons. These sons were trying to do this. ¹⁵ The demon said, “I know Jesus. I know about Paul. But who are you?” ¹⁶ Then the man with the demon jumped on the sons. He had power over them and beat them. They ran out of the house with no clothes on and they were hurt.

¹⁷ All the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus heard about it. Because of this all the people became afraid. And the name of the Lord Jesus was held in great honor. ¹⁸ Many Christians came and told of the wrong things they were doing. ¹⁹ Many of those who did witchcraft gathered their books together and burned them in front of everyone. These books were worth 50,000 pieces of silver money. ²⁰ The Word of the Lord became well-known.

²¹ After this, Paul thought he would go through the countries of Macedonia and Greece. Then he would go to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have been there, I must go to the city of Rome also.” ²² He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia. Paul stayed in the countries of Asia awhile longer.

The Meeting of the Silver Workmen in Ephesus

²³ During that time there was much trouble about the Christians. ²⁴ A man named Demetrius made small silver buildings for the worship of Diana. His workmen received much money for their work. ²⁵ He called his workmen together and other men who made these small silver buildings. He said to them, “Men, you know we make much money from this work. ²⁶ Now you hear that Paul has turned away many people in Ephesus as well as in Asia. He tells them that gods made with hands are not gods. ²⁷ It could be that our work will not be respected. Not only that, the house of worship for the god of Diana will be worth nothing and her greatness will be destroyed. All the countries of Asia and the world worship her.”

²⁸ They became angry when they heard this and cried out, “Great is Diana of Ephesus.” ²⁹ The whole city was filled with loud cries. They caught Gaius and Aristarchus. These two men from Macedonia were with Paul. They gathered around them at the meeting place in the city.

³⁰ Paul wanted to stand in front of all the people but his followers would not let him. ³¹ Some of the city leaders who were his friends told him not to go to the meeting. ³² All this time some were crying out one thing and some another. The meeting was all noise. Most of the people did not know why they had come together. ³³ Then the Jews pushed Alexander to the front. Alexander held his hand up and was going to speak. ³⁴ As soon as they saw he was a Jew, they cried out with a loud voice for two hours, “Great is Diana of Ephesus!”

³⁵ One of the city leaders stopped the noise. He spoke, “Men of Ephesus, everyone knows our city is where the god of Diana is kept. That is the stone god that fell from the sky. ³⁶ Everyone knows this is true, so you must not cry out or do anything foolish. ³⁷ The men you brought here do not rob houses of worship or talk against our god. ³⁸ If Demetrius and his workmen have something against anyone, we have special days for courts. Let them go to court. ³⁹ If you want anything else, it should be done in another meeting. ⁴⁰ We are in danger of being asked about this trouble today. There is no good reason we can give for this meeting.” ⁴¹ When he had said this, he told them to leave.

Paul Goes to Greece and Macedonia

20 When the noise had come to an end, Paul called the followers to him. He spoke words of comfort and then said good-bye. He left to go to the country of Macedonia. ² As he went through those parts of the country, he spoke words of comfort and help to the Christians. Then he went on to the country of Greece. ³ He stayed there three months. As he was about to get on a ship for the country of Syria, he learned that the Jews had made a plan to take him. He changed his plans and went back through Macedonia. ⁴ Some men were going along with him. They were Sopater of the city of Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus of the city of Thessalonica, Gaius of the city of Derbe, and Timothy and Tychicus and Trophimus of the countries of Asia. ⁵ They went on to the city of Troas and waited there for us. ⁶ After the supper of bread without yeast we got on a ship in the city of Philippi. We met these men at Troas. It took five days to get there and we stayed one week.

Eutychus Falls from a Building While Paul Preaches

⁷ On the first day of the week we met together to eat the Lord’s supper. Paul talked to them. He thought he would leave the next day, so he kept on talking until twelve o’clock at night. ⁸ There were many lights in the room on the third floor where we had our meeting. ⁹ A young man named Eutychus sat in the window. As Paul kept on preaching, this man started to go to sleep. At last he went to sleep. He fell from the third floor to the ground and was picked up dead. ¹⁰ Paul went down and stood over him. Then he took him in his arms and said, “Do not be worried. He is alive!” ¹¹ Paul went up again to the meeting and ate with them. He talked with them until the sun came up. Then he left. ¹² They were happy they could take the young man home alive.

¹³ We went on ahead by ship to the city of Assos. There we were to pick up Paul. He had planned it that way. He wanted to walk by land that far. ¹⁴ We got to Assos and met him there. We picked him up and went on to the city of Mitylene. ¹⁵ The next day we went by ship to a place beside the island of Chios. The next day we crossed over to the island of Samos. Then the next day we came to the city of Miletus. ¹⁶ Paul planned to pass by the city of Ephesus so he would not lose more time in Asia. He wanted to be in Jerusalem if he could be on the day to remember how the Holy Spirit came on the church.

Paul Meets with the Leaders of the Church of Ephesus

¹⁷ From Miletus he sent word to Ephesus. He asked the leaders of the church to come to him. ¹⁸ When they got there, he said to them, “From the first day that I came to Asia you have seen what my life has been like. ¹⁹ I worked for the Lord without pride. Because of the trouble the Jews gave me, I have had many tears. ²⁰ I always told you everything that would be a help to you. I taught you in open meetings and from house to house. ²¹ I preached to the Jews and to the Greeks. I told them to turn from their sin to God and to put their trust in our Lord Jesus Christ.

²² “As you see, I am on my way to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit makes me go. I do not know what will happen to me there. ²³ But in every city I have been, the Holy Spirit tells me that trouble and chains will be waiting for me there. ²⁴ But I am not worried about this. I do not think of my life as worth much, but I do want to finish the work the Lord Jesus gave me to do. My work is to preach the Good News of God’s loving-favor.

²⁵ “All of you have heard me preach the Good News. I am sure that none of you will ever see my face again. ²⁶ I tell you this day that I am clean and free from the blood of all men. ²⁷ I told you all the truth about God. ²⁸ Keep a careful watch over yourselves and over the church. The Holy Spirit has made you its leaders. Feed and care for the church of God. He bought it with His own blood.

²⁹ “Yes, I know that when I am gone, hungry wolves will come in among you. They will try to destroy the church. ³⁰ Also men from your own group will begin to teach things that are not true. They will get men to follow them. ³¹ I say again, keep watching! Remember that for three years I taught everyone of you night and day, even with tears.

³² “And now, my brothers, I give you over to God and to the word of His love. It is able to make you strong and to give you what you are to have, along with all those who are set apart for God. ³³ I have not tried to get anyone’s money or clothes. ³⁴ You all know that these hands worked for what I needed and for what those with me needed. ³⁵ In every way I showed you that by working hard like this we can help those who are weak. We must remember what the Lord Jesus said, ‘We are more happy when we give than when we receive.’ ”

³⁶ As he finished talking, he got down on his knees and prayed with them all. ³⁷ They cried and put their arms around Paul and kissed him. ³⁸ What made them sad most of all was he said that they would never see his face again. Then they went with him to the ship.