Historical
What happened in Thessalonica
17 Paul and his friends continued their journey. They went through the two towns called Amphipolis and Apollonia.[a] Then they arrived in the city of Thessalonica. There was a Jewish meeting place there. 2 Paul went to the meeting place, as he usually did on a Jewish day of rest. On three rest days, he spoke God's message to the people there. He read from the Bible and he explained what it meant. 3 He told the people what was true about God's Messiah. He used the Bible to show them clearly that the Messiah had to suffer and die. He also showed them that the Messiah had to become alive again. Paul said to them, ‘I have been telling you about Jesus. He is the Messiah that God has sent to us.’
4 Some of the Jews believed Paul's message. They joined the group with Paul and Silas. A large number of Greek people who now worshipped God also joined this group.[b] Many important women in the city also believed and they joined the group.
5 Some other Jews in the city were jealous of Paul and Silas, because people believed their message. So they went to the city's market place and they found some bad men there. These men often caused trouble in the city. Now the Jews brought these men to come together with them in an angry crowd. This crowd made a lot of noise and trouble in the streets of the city. They went to Jason's house and they broke down his door. They wanted to find Paul and Silas. They wanted to bring them out of the house to the crowd. 6 But they did not find Paul and Silas there. So they took hold of Jason and some other believers. They pulled them out of the house. They made them go and stand in front of the important officers of the city. They shouted, ‘These men have caused much trouble everywhere. Now they have come to our city. 7 Jason has let them stay in his house. They speak against the laws that Caesar has given to us. They say that there is another king. This other king is called Jesus.’
8 The whole crowd of people and the important officers heard this report about Paul and Silas. They became very angry and upset. 9 The officers decided how much money Jason and the other believers should pay to go free. When they received it, they allowed them to go.
Many people in Berea believe Paul's message
10 As soon as it became dark, the believers in Thessalonica sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived in that town, they went to the Jewish meeting place. 11 The Jewish people in Berea were better than the people in Thessalonica. They were happy to listen carefully to Paul. Every day they also studied the Bible. They wanted to know if Paul's message was true. 12 Many of the Jewish people in Berea believed the good news about Jesus. Many Greek men and some important Greek women also believed in Jesus.
13 But the Jews in Thessalonica heard news about what Paul was doing in Berea. They heard that he was telling people God's message about Jesus. So some of them went to Berea. They said bad things against Paul to the people there. As a result, a large crowd became angry with Paul. 14 Immediately, the believers in Berea sent Paul away to go to the coast. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. 15 When Paul left Berea, some men went with him. They went with him as far as the city of Athens.[c] Before these men returned to Berea, Paul gave them a message for Silas and Timothy. He said, ‘Please come quickly and meet me here in Athens.’
Paul visits Athens
16 While Paul was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy, he walked around. He saw that the people in the city had many idols. When Paul saw this, he became very upset. 17 So he went to the Jewish meeting place and he talked with the Jews. He also talked there with those Gentiles who now worshipped God. Every day he also went to the market place in the city and he talked with the people there. 18 There were some teachers there who liked to talk about the things that people should believe. Some of them were called Epicureans and some were called Stoics.[d] After they talked to Paul, some of them said to each other, ‘Who is this silly man? He knows nothing and he talks too much!’ But some of these teachers said, ‘We think that he is talking about strange gods.’ They said this because Paul was telling people the good news about Jesus. He was also talking about the time when God will cause dead people to live again.
19 So these men asked Paul to go with them to Areopagus hill. They wanted him to speak to the city's important officers who met there.[e] 20 The officers said, ‘These strange ideas that you are teaching surprise us. Please explain to us what these ideas mean.’ 21 (The people of Athens liked to talk about new ideas. So did the foreign people who lived there. They all wanted to hear new things and to talk about them. They seemed to do this all the time.)
22 So Paul stood up in front of the important officers of the city. He said to them, ‘People of Athens. I see that you have many gods. 23 I have walked in the streets of your city. I see that you have built many special places where you worship your gods. I saw one altar with a notice on it. The notice said, “To the god that we do not know.” This shows that you want to worship a god that you do not know. Now I will tell you clearly about who this God is.
24 The true God made the earth and everything that is in it. He rules everything in the earth and in heaven. He does not live in any buildings that people have made for him. 25 People make things to give to God. But God does not need anything like that. It is God himself who causes everyone to live. He gives them everything that they need. 26 God first made one man. From that one man he made all the different groups of people. He caused them to live in different places all over the world. He decided where each group of people should live. He also decided how long they should live in each place. 27 God did all this so that people would want to know him. They would look carefully for him and perhaps they would find him. Really, God is near to each of us. 28 Someone said this: “Because God gives us life, we are alive. Because of him, we can move about. Because of him we can be who we are.” One of your writers has also said, “We too are God's children.”
29 So, because we are God's children, we should not think that he is a thing like an idol. Clever people use gold or silver or stone to make images of gods. But God is not like these things that people choose to make for themselves. 30 In past times people did not know the true things about God. Because of this, God did not punish them. But now God tells people everywhere, “Stop doing bad things and turn to me!” 31 God has already chosen one special day. On that day he will judge everyone in the world in a completely right way. He has chosen a man who will do this for him. He has shown clearly to everyone who that man is. He showed it like this: People killed that man. But God caused him to live again.’
32 Paul had said, ‘God caused that man to live again.’ When the people heard this, some of them laughed at him. But other people said to Paul, ‘We want you to tell us more about this on another day.’ 33 So then Paul left the meeting of the important officers of the city. 34 Some of the people who had heard Paul's message joined his group. They believed the good news about Jesus. One of these believers was a man called Dionysius. He belonged to the group of important officers. A woman called Damaris also became a believer. Several other people also believed Paul's message about Jesus.
Paul visits Corinth
18 After Paul had spoken to the important officers of Athens, he left the city. He went from there to the city of Corinth.[f]
2 In Corinth, he met a man called Aquila. Aquila was a Jew. He had been born in the region of Pontus. At that time, Caesar Claudius had said that all Jews must leave Rome. So Aquila had left Italy and he had just arrived in Corinth with his wife Priscilla. Paul went to visit them. 3 They knew how to make tents which they could sell to people. Paul also made tents, so he stayed with them and he worked with them.
4 Every Jewish day of rest, Paul taught both Jews and Greek people in the Jewish meeting place. He wanted them all to believe the good news about Jesus.
5 Then Silas and Timothy arrived there from the country called Macedonia. After that, the only work that Paul did was to teach people God's message. He told the Jews clearly that Jesus is God's Messiah. 6 The Jews did not agree with Paul and they insulted him. So he shook the dirt off his clothes at them.[g] He said to them, ‘If God punishes you, then you have caused it to happen. It will not be because of me. Now I will go to the Gentiles and I will teach them God's message.’
7 So Paul did not speak in the Jewish meeting place any more.[h] Instead, he went to the house of Titius Justus, which was next to the meeting place. Justus was a Gentile who now worshipped God. 8 A man called Crispus was the leader of the Jewish meeting place there. He, and everyone else who lived in his house, believed in the Lord Jesus. Many other people in Corinth heard Paul's message and they believed in Jesus. When they became believers, someone baptized them.
9 But one night, the Lord appeared to Paul in a vision. He said, ‘Do not be afraid of those people who are against you. Continue to speak my message to the people here. Do not stop speaking to them. 10 I am here with you. Nobody will hurt you. There are many people in this city who will believe in me.’
11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for 18 months and he taught the people God's message about Jesus.
12 Gallio then became the Roman ruler of the region called Achaia.[i] At this time the Jewish leaders in Corinth decided together to speak against Paul. So they took hold of him and they brought him to Gallio. They wanted Gallio to judge Paul.
13 The Jewish leaders said to Gallio, ‘This man is teaching people to worship God in a wrong way. The things that he teaches are against our Jewish law.’
14 Paul was ready to speak, but Gallio spoke first to the Jews. He said, ‘If this man had done a very bad thing, then I would judge him. It would be right for me to listen to you. 15 But you are arguing about words and names and your own Jewish law. So you yourselves must decide what to do about it. I will not be a judge to decide about these things.’ 16 Then Gallio told his soldiers to take the Jewish leaders away. 17 Then the whole crowd of people took hold of a man called Sosthenes. He was the leader of the Jewish meeting place there. The crowd hit him with sticks in front of Gallio. But Gallio did nothing to stop them. He did not think it was important.
Paul travels from Corinth to Antioch
18 Paul remained in Corinth with the believers for many days. Then he left them. Priscilla and Aquila also went with him. They went to the port called Cenchrea. They got on a ship there to sail to Syria. Before they left, someone cut off all the hair on Paul's head. This showed that he had made a promise to God.[j]
19 They all arrived in the city of Ephesus. Paul left Priscilla and Aquila, and he went into the Jewish meeting room. There he talked about God's message with the Jews. 20 Some of them asked Paul to remain in Ephesus with them for a longer time. But he did not agree to stay. 21 Before he left, he said to them, ‘If God wants me to come back, I will return to you.’ Then Paul got in a ship and he sailed from Ephesus to Caesarea. 22 After Paul arrived in Caesarea, he went to Jerusalem. He said, ‘hello’ to the group of believers there. Then he travelled to Antioch in Syria.
23 He stayed in Antioch for some time. Then he left there and he travelled through the regions called Galatia and Phrygia. He spoke to all the believers in these places. He helped them to trust God and to be strong.
These are some of the things that Apollos did
24 A certain Jewish man called Apollos arrived in Ephesus. He had been born in Alexandria, and he could teach people very well.[k] He knew a lot about God's message in the Bible. 25 Someone had taught him the good news about the Lord Jesus. He liked to speak a lot to people about Jesus. The things that he taught were true. But he only knew part of God's message. He only knew the things that John taught about baptism. 26 Apollos went to the Jewish meeting place and he taught the people there. He was not afraid to speak God's message to them. Priscilla and Aquila heard what Apollos was teaching the people. So they said to him, ‘Please come with us to our home.’ Then they explained to Apollos the whole of God's message about Jesus. Then he could understand better.
27 Later, Apollos decided to go to the region called Achaia. The believers in Ephesus agreed that he should do that. They wrote a letter for him to give to the believers in Achaia. They wrote, ‘When Apollos arrives, please accept him.’ God had been very kind to the believers in Achaia, so that they believed in Jesus. When Apollos came to them, he helped them very much. 28 Some of the Jews there spoke against Apollos's message. But he argued strongly against them so that everyone could hear. He explained to them what God had said in the Bible. He showed them clearly that Jesus is God's Messiah.
Paul speaks in Ephesus about Jesus
19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul travelled through the region of Asia. He arrived in Ephesus and he found some believers there. 2 Paul asked them, ‘When you believed the message about Jesus, did you receive God's Holy Spirit?’
The believers answered, ‘We did not even know that there is a Holy Spirit.’
3 So Paul asked them, ‘When someone baptized you, what kind of baptism was that?’
‘We received the baptism that John spoke about,’ they answered.
4 Then Paul said, ‘John baptized people who knew that they had done wrong things. They wanted to stop doing these things. But John also said to the people, “You must believe in the man who will come soon.” This person is Jesus.’ 5 When the believers in Ephesus understood this, Paul baptized them. This showed that they now believed in the Lord Jesus. 6 Then Paul put his hands on each believer's head. When he did this, the Holy Spirit came down on them. They spoke in different languages and they spoke messages from God. 7 There were about 12 men there.
8 For three months, Paul went to the Jewish meeting place in Ephesus on their day of rest. He was not afraid to speak to the people there. He talked strongly with them about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them did not accept what Paul said. They refused to believe the message about Jesus. Some of them said bad things against the Way of the Lord Jesus and many people in the group heard this. So Paul stopped speaking to people in that meeting place. He left there and he took with him the other believers. Every day he talked with people in another place. It was a large room, where a man called Tyrannus usually taught people. 10 Paul taught the people there for two years. During that time, all the people who lived in Asia region heard the message about the Lord Jesus. This included Jews and Gentiles.
The sons of Sceva tell bad spirits to leave people
11 God was helping Paul to do special miracles. 12 Because of this, people were taking pieces of cloth and clothes that Paul gave to them. Paul had used these things, and people took them to those who were ill. After they touched these cloths, the sick people would become well again. Bad spirits also left them.
13 There were some Jewish men who travelled about to different places. They caused bad spirits to leave people. Some of them wanted to use the name of the Lord Jesus when they did this. These Jews said to the bad spirits, ‘We tell you to come out of these people. We say this with the authority of Jesus, the man that Paul teaches people about.’
14 Sceva was a leader of the Jewish priests in that place. He had seven sons who were telling bad spirits to come out of people. They used the name of Jesus when they did this. 15 But one day the bad spirit in a man said to them, ‘I know who Jesus is. I also know about Paul. But I do not know who you are.’ 16 The man who had the bad spirit in him then jumped up. He fought with the seven sons and he was too strong for them. He hurt them badly and he tore their clothes off. So the sons ran away from the man's house. Their bodies were bleeding and they wore no clothes.
17 All the Jews and Gentiles who lived in Ephesus heard about this. They became very afraid. Now they respected the name of the Lord Jesus very much. They knew that he was very powerful. 18 Many of the believers agreed that they had done wicked things. They told other believers about this. 19 Some of them had used magic to do powerful things. These people brought all their special books and they burned them in a fire. Everybody saw what they did. The books had cost a lot of money. The value of all the books was 50,000 silver coins. 20 As a result of this, more and more people heard the good news about the Lord Jesus. The message was powerful and people's lives changed.
Bad troubles happen in Ephesus
21 After these things happened, Paul decided that he should go to Jerusalem. But first he wanted to visit the believers in Macedonia and Greece. He said, ‘After I have been to Jerusalem, I must also go to Rome.’ 22 At that time, Timothy and Erastus were helping Paul with his work. Paul sent them to Macedonia while he stayed longer in Asia region.
23 Soon after that, there was bad trouble in Ephesus. Some people began to speak strongly against the Way of the Lord Jesus. 24 In Ephesus there was a man called Demetrius. He used silver to make beautiful things. He made models that looked like the temple of Artemis.[l] He paid a lot of money to people who did this work for him. 25 So he told all his workers to meet with him. He also asked other workers to come, who did the same kind of work. He said to all these men, ‘Men, you know that our work has caused us to become rich. 26 Also, you can see what this man Paul is doing. You have heard his message. Many people here in Ephesus, and in nearly all the places in Asia region, believe what he says. Paul teaches people this: “Anything that men have made is not really a god.” 27 If people continue to believe Paul's message, it will be very bad for us. People will say bad things against our work. The house of our god Artemis will not be important any more. People will even think that Artemis herself is not a great god. As it is now, people in all of Asia region and everywhere else worship her. We do not want that to change.’
28 When the workers heard Demetrius, they became very angry. They all shouted, ‘Our god Artemis of Ephesus is very great!’ 29 More and more people in the whole city began to shout. There was trouble everywhere. Gaius and Aristarchus had been travelling with Paul. They had come with him from Macedonia. Some people from the crowd took hold of Gaius and Aristarchus. They pulled them quickly to the big public meeting place in the middle of the city.[m]
30 Paul himself wanted to go there. He wanted to speak to the crowd. But the other believers would not let him do that. 31 Some Roman officers in that region were Paul's friends. They also sent a message to him. They said to him, ‘Please, do not go to the meeting place.’
32 The crowd of people in the meeting place continued to shout loudly. Some people were shouting one thing and other people were shouting something different. Not many of the people even knew why they had all met together. 33 There was a Jewish man called Alexander in the crowd. The Jews pushed him to the front of the crowd. He raised his hands towards the people, so that they would be quiet. He wanted to explain to them that he and his Jewish friends had not caused the trouble. 34 But the crowd knew that Alexander was a Jew. So they continued to shout the same words for about two hours. All together they shouted, ‘Our god Artemis of Ephesus is very great!’
35 After two hours, an important officer of the city caused the crowd to be quiet. He said, ‘People of Ephesus! Everybody knows about our god Artemis who has her temple here in Ephesus. People come here to worship her. Her special stone that fell from the sky is also here in Ephesus. We take care of all her things. Everybody knows that! 36 Nobody can say that this is not true. So be careful! Do not quickly do anything that is silly. 37 You have brought Gaius and Aristarchus here to the city officers' meeting place. But what bad thing have they done? They have not robbed the house of Artemis. They have not said bad things against her. 38 Perhaps Demetrius and his workers think that someone has done a bad thing to them. If they think that, they should let a judge decide. There are officers for the government who will do this. If someone has done a wrong thing, people should tell a judge.
39 So, if you want to argue about these problems any more, do it properly. Go to the place where the judges meet. 40 Today, there is a crowd of people who are shouting and fighting. The Roman rulers may hear about what has happened. They will say that we have done bad things. We could not explain to them the reason why there is all this trouble.’ 41 When the officer had said all this, he said to the crowd, ‘All of you should go home now.’
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