Chapter 18

Paul at Corinth

1 After these things he left aAthens and went to bCorinth.

2 And he found a Jew named aAquila, a native of bPontus, having recently come from cItaly with his wife aPriscilla, because dClaudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them,

3 and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and athey were working, for by trade they were tent-makers.

4 And he was reasoning ain the synagogue every bSabbath and trying to persuade cJews and Greeks.

5 But when aSilas and Timothy bcame down from cMacedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly dtestifying to the Jews that eJesus was the 1Christ.

6 But when they resisted and blasphemed, he ashook out his garments and said to them, “Your bblood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go cto the Gentiles.”

7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named 1Titius Justus, aa worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue.

8 aCrispus, bthe leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord cwith all his household, and many of the dCorinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.

9 And the Lord said to Paul in the night by aa vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent;

10 for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12 But while Gallio was aproconsul of bAchaia, cthe Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before dthe judgment seat,

13 saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to athe law.”

14 But when Paul was about to aopen his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you;

15 but if there are aquestions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters.”

16 And he drove them away from athe judgment seat.

17 And they all took hold of aSosthenes, bthe leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of cthe judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.

18 Paul, having remained many days longer, atook leave of bthe brethren and put out to sea for cSyria, and with him were dPriscilla and dAquila. In eCenchrea 1he fhad his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow.

19 They came to aEphesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered bthe synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

20 When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent,

21 but ataking leave of them and saying, “I will return to you again bif God wills,” he set sail from cEphesus.

22 When he had landed at aCaesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and went down to bAntioch.

Third Missionary Journey

23 And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the aGalatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

24 Now a Jew named aApollos, an bAlexandrian by birth, 1an eloquent man, came to cEphesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures.

25 This man had been instructed in athe way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with bthe baptism of John;

26 and 1he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when aPriscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him bthe way of God more accurately.

27 And when he wanted to go across to aAchaia, bthe brethren encouraged him and wrote to cthe disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly 1helped those who had believed through grace,

28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating aby the Scriptures that bJesus was the 1Christ.

Chapter 19

Paul at Ephesus

1 It happened that while aApollos was at bCorinth, Paul passed through the cupper country and came to dEphesus, and found some disciples.

2 He said to them, “aDid you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, bwe have not even heard whether 1there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “aInto John’s baptism.”

4 Paul said, “aJohn baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people bto believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

5 When they heard this, they were abaptized 1in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 And when Paul had alaid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began bspeaking with tongues and cprophesying.

7 There were in all about twelve men.

8 And he entered athe synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them babout the kingdom of God.

9 But when asome were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of bthe Way before the 1people, he withdrew from them and took away cthe disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

10 This took place for atwo years, so that all who lived in 1bAsia heard cthe word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Miracles at Ephesus

11 God was performing aextraordinary 1miracles by the hands of Paul,

12 aso that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and bthe evil spirits went out.

13 But also some of the Jewish aexorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

14 Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

17 This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in aEphesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.

18 Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.

19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it 1fifty thousand apieces of silver.

20 So 1athe word of the Lord bwas growing mightily and prevailing.

21 Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the 1Spirit to ago to Jerusalem bafter he had passed through cMacedonia and dAchaia, saying, “After I have been there, eI must also see Rome.”

22 And having sent into aMacedonia two of bthose who ministered to him, cTimothy and dErastus, he himself stayed in 1eAsia for a while.

23 About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning athe Way.

24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of 1Artemis, awas bringing no little 2business to the craftsmen;

25 these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity 1depends upon this business.

26 “You see and hear that not only in aEphesus, but in almost all of 1bAsia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that 2cgods made with hands are no gods at all.

27 “Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess 1Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of 2aAsia and bthe 3world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.”

28 When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, “Great is 1Artemis of the aEphesians!”

29 The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed 1with one accord into the theater, dragging along aGaius and bAristarchus, Paul’s traveling ccompanions from dMacedonia.

30 And when Paul wanted to go into the 1assembly, athe disciples would not let him.

31 Also some of the 1Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to 2venture into the theater.

32 aSo then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the 1assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know 2for what reason they had come together.

33 Some of the crowd 1concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having amotioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the 2assembly.

34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is 1Artemis of the Ephesians!”

35 After quieting the crowd, the town clerk * said, “Men of aEphesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great 1Artemis and of the image which fell down from 2heaven?

36 “So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash.

37 “For you have brought these men here who are neither arobbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

38 “So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against any man, the courts are in session and 1aproconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another.

39 “But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the 1lawful 2assembly.

40 “For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s events, since there is no real cause for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering.”

41 After saying this he dismissed the 1assembly.

Chapter 20

Paul in Macedonia and Greece

1 After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for athe disciples, and when he had exhorted them and taken his leave of them, he left bto go to cMacedonia.

2 When he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece.

3 And there he spent three months, and when aa plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for bSyria, he decided to return through cMacedonia.

4 And 1he was accompanied by Sopater of aBerea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by bAristarchus and Secundus of the cThessalonians, and bGaius of dDerbe, and eTimothy, and fTychicus and gTrophimus of 2hAsia.

5 But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for aus at bTroas.

6 aWe sailed from bPhilippi after cthe days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at dTroas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.

7 On athe first day of the week, when bwe were gathered together to cbreak bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his 1message until midnight.

8 There were many alamps in the bupper room where we were gathered together.

9 And there was a young man named 1Eutychus sitting 2on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.

10 But Paul went down and afell upon him, and after embracing him, he bsaid, “1Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.”

11 When he had gone back up and had abroken the bread and 1eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.

12 They took away the boy alive, and were 1greatly comforted.

Troas to Miletus

13 But awe, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go 1by land.

14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene.

15 Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to aMiletus.

16 For Paul had decided to sail past aEphesus so that he would not have to spend time in 1bAsia; for he was hurrying cto be in Jerusalem, if possible, don the day of Pentecost.

Farewell to Ephesus

17 From Miletus he sent to aEphesus and called to him bthe elders of the church.

18 And when they had come to him, he said to them,

“You yourselves know, afrom the first day that I set foot in 1Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me 1through athe plots of the Jews;

20 how I adid not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and 1from house to house,

21 solemnly atestifying to both Jews and Greeks of brepentance toward God and cfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

22 “And now, behold, bound by the 1Spirit, aI am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

23 except that athe Holy Spirit solemnly btestifies to me in every city, saying that cbonds and afflictions await me.

24 “But aI do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may bfinish my course and cthe ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to dtestify solemnly of the gospel of ethe grace of God.

25 “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about apreaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.

26 “Therefore, I 1testify to you this day that aI am 2innocent of the blood of all men.

27 “For I adid not shrink from declaring to you the whole bpurpose of God.

28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all athe flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you 1overseers, to shepherd bthe church of God which cHe 2purchased 3with His own blood.

29 “I know that after my departure asavage wolves will come in among you, not sparing bthe flock;

30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away athe disciples after them.

31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of athree years I did not cease to admonish each one bwith tears.

32 “And now I acommend you to God and to bthe word of His grace, which is able to cbuild you up and to give you dthe inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

33 “aI have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.

34 “You yourselves know that athese hands ministered to my own needs and to the bmen who were with me.

35 “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

36 When he had said these things, he aknelt down and prayed with them all.

37 And 1they began to weep aloud and 2aembraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,

38 1grieving especially over athe word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were baccompanying him to the ship.