Beginning

Paul preaches at Corinth, continuing there a year and a half. He goes again into Syria, and to Ephesus, Caesarea, and Antioch. Of Aquila and Priscilla, and Apollos.

18 After that, Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. ² And he met a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because the Emperor Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. And he fell in with them. ³ And because he was of the same craft, he stayed with them and worked; their craft was to make tents. ⁴ And he preached in the synagogue every Sabbath day, and exhorted the Jews and the Gentiles.

⁵ When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the Spirit to testify to the Jews that Jesus was the very Christ. ⁶ And when they contradicted and reviled him, he shook out his clothing and said to them, Your blood is upon your own heads, and from henceforth I go blameless to the Gentiles. ⁷ And moving on from there, he entered into the house of a certain man named Justus, a worshipper of God whose house adjoined the synagogue. ⁸ However one Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians listened and believed and were baptized.

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision: Do not be afraid, but speak; and do not hold your peace. ¹⁰ For I am with you, and no man will attack you that will hurt you. For I have many people in this city.

¹¹ And Paul continued there a year and six months, and taught the people the word of God.

¹² When Gallio was ruler of the province of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, ¹³ saying, This fellow counsels the people to worship God contrary to the law. ¹⁴ And as Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong, or an evil deed, O ye Jews, I should by reason hear you. ¹⁵ But if it is a question of words, or of names, or of your law, look to it yourselves. For I will be no judge in such matters. ¹⁶ And he drove them from the seat. ¹⁷ Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him outside the judge’s seat. And Gallio cared about none of these things.

¹⁸ After this, Paul remained there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren and set sail for Syria, Priscilla and Aquila accompanying him. And he shaved his head in Cenchrea, for he had made a vow. ¹⁹ And he came to Ephesus, and left Priscilla and Aquila there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. ²⁰ When they asked him to stay longer with them, he did not consent, ²¹ but bid them farewell, saying, I must be in Jerusalem at the coming feast. But I will return again to you, if God so wills. And he sailed from Ephesus, ²² and landed at Ceasarea, and ascended to Jerusalem, and briefly visited the congregation.

 And he went down to Antioch (in Syria). ²³ And when he had stayed there a while, he departed and went over all the region of Galatia and Phrygia systematically, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴ And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, went to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, and strong in the scriptures. ²⁵ He was informed in the way of the Lord, and spoke fervently in spirit, and taught diligently the things of the Lord; but he knew only the baptism of John. ²⁶ And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him to themselves and expounded to him the way of God more perfectly. ²⁷ And when he wanted to go into Achaia, the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him. After he got there, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace. ²⁸ And with strong arguments he overcame the Jews, and that openly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

Of the twelve men that Paul baptized at Ephesus, and what miracles were done by him. Demetrius incites riot in the city.

19 It came about, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul passed through the upper regions and went to Ephesus, and found certain disciples, ² and said to them, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said to him, No, we have not heard whether there is a Holy Spirit or not. ³ And he said to them, With what then were you baptized? And they said, With John’s baptism. ⁴ Then Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who was to come after him; that is, on Christ Jesus.

⁵ When they heard that, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And Paul laid his hands upon them, and the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. ⁷ And the men were about twelve in all.

⁸ And he went into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for the space of three months, teaching and giving them exhortations of the kingdom of God. ⁹ When some grew hardhearted and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way, and that before the assembly, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples. And he held discussions daily in the school of one called Tyrannus. ¹⁰ And this continued for two years, so that all those who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹ And God worked no small miracles by the hands of Paul. ¹² Napkins or partlets were even brought from his body to the sick, and their diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them.

¹³ Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, We exorcise you by Jesus whom Paul preaches! ¹⁴ And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew and chief of the priests, who did this. ¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? ¹⁶ And the man in whom the evil spirit was ran on them and overcame them, and so prevailed against them that they fled out of that house with their clothes torn off and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all, both the Jews and Greeks that dwelt at Ephesus. And fear came on them all, and they magnified the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁸ And many who believed came and confessed, and showed their works. ¹⁹ Many of those who had been involved in occult practices brought their books and burned them openly. They estimated the value of them, and found it fifty thousand silverlings. ²⁰ Thus the word of God grew mightily and prevailed.

²¹ After these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to pass over Macedonia and Achaia and to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. ²² And he sent into Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus; but he himself remained in Asia for a season.

²³ At that time there arose no little ado about the Way. ²⁴ For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines for Diana, brought no little income to the craftsmen. ²⁵ He called these men together, with the workmen of related occupations, and said, Sirs, you know that we profit from this trade. ²⁶ Moreover, you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that things made with hands are not gods. ²⁷ As a result, not only is this our craft at risk of being discredited, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may fall into disrepute, and her magnificence be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.

²⁸ When they heard this, the men were full of wrath and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! ²⁹ And all the city was on a roar, and the people rushed into the public theatre with one assent and caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions.

³⁰ When Paul would have entered in to the people, the disciples prevented him. ³¹ Also, certain of the leading Asians that were his friends sent to him, urging him not to press into the theatre. ³² Some cried one thing and some another, and the crowd was all out of order, and the majority did not know why they had come together.

³³ Some of the crowd drew Alexander out, the Jews thrusting him forward. Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to give the people an answer. ³⁴ But when they knew that he was a Jew, there arose a shout for almost two hours, everyone crying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians!

³⁵ When the town clerk had quieted the people, he said, Men of Ephesus, what man is it that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana and of the image that came from heaven? ³⁶ Seeing then that no one here denies this, you ought to be quiet, and do nothing rashly. ³⁷ For you have brought here these men who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. ³⁸ And so if Demetrius and the craftsmen that are with him have any charge against anyone, the court is open, and there are deputies. Let them bring complaints against one another. ³⁹ If you have any other matter, it may be determined in a lawful assembly. ⁴⁰ For we are at risk of charges being made against us for this day’s uproar, since there is no good reason we can give to account for this mob of people.

⁴¹ And when he had thus spoken, he let the assembly depart.

Paul goes into Macedonia and into Greece. At Troas he raises up a dead body. At Ephesus he calls the elders of the congregation together, commits the keeping of God’s flock to them, warns them of false teachers, makes his prayer with them, and departs by ship.

20 After the tumult was calmed, Paul called the disciples to him and took his leave of them, and departed to go into Macedonia. ² And when he had gone over those parts and given the people many exhortations, he went into Greece, ³ and was there three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him as he was about to sail into Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴ There accompanied him into Asia, Sopater of Berea, and from Thessalonica, Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and from Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. ⁵ These went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. ⁶ And we sailed away from Philippi after the Passover holy days, and in five days came to them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

⁷ And on the morrow after the Sabbath day, the disciples came together to break bread. Paul, who was ready to depart on the next day, preached to them, and continued preaching until midnight. ⁸ And there were many lamps in the upper chamber where they were gathered together. ⁹ And a certain young man named Eutychus sat in a window, falling into a deep sleep. And as Paul spoke on, he was the more overcome with sleep, and fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead. ¹⁰ Paul went down and fell on him, and embraced him and said, Don’t be troubled, for his life is in him.

¹¹ When Paul had gone upstairs again, he broke bread and ate, and talked a long while, even till the morning, and so departed. ¹² And they brought in the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.

¹³ And we went on to the ship and set sail for Assos, there to take Paul on board. For so he had arranged, and would himself go afoot. ¹⁴ When he came to us at Assos, we took him in and went to Mitylene. ¹⁵ And we sailed from there and arrived the next day off Chios. And the next day we arrived at the island of Samos and stayed at Trogyllium. The next day we went on to Miletus, ¹⁶ for Paul had determined to pass by Ephesus as they sailed, because he did not want to spend the time in Asia. For he hastened to be (if he could possibly) at Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost. ¹⁷ And so from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the congregation.

¹⁸ And when they had come to him, he said to them, You know how, from the first day that I came to Asia, I have been with you at all seasons, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humbleness of mind, and with many tears and trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ and how I kept back nothing that was profitable, but have shown you and taught you openly and at home in your houses, ²¹ witnessing both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus.

²² And now behold, I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will come on me there, ²³ but that the Holy Spirit witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and trouble await me. ²⁴ But none of those things move me. I do not count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry that I have received from the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵ And now behold, I am sure that henceforth you all (among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God) shall see my face no more. ²⁶ And so I call you as witnesses this same day, that I am clear of the blood of all men. ²⁷ For I have kept nothing back, but have spoken to you all the counsel of God. ²⁸ Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock whereof the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the congregation of God, which he has purchased with his blood. ²⁹ For I am sure of this, that after my departing, grievous wolves will enter in among you, who will not spare the flock. ³⁰ Moreover, from among your own selves men will rise up speaking perverse things, to draw disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore awake, and remember that for the space of three years I did not cease to warn every one of you, both night and day, with tears.

³² And now, brethren, I commit you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build further and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³ I have desired no man’s silver, gold, or clothing. ³⁴ You know well that these hands have provided for my needs and for those who were with me. ³⁵ I have shown you in every way how, by so labouring, you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he said it is more blessed to give than to receive.

³⁶ When he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ And they all wept abundantly, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him, ³⁸ sorrowing most of all for the words that he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.