18. Many of the believers came, publicly admitting and revealing what they had done.
19. Many of those who had practised magic brought their books together and burnt them in public. They added up the price of the books, and the total came to 50,000 silver coins.
20. In this powerful way the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing stronger.
21. After these things had happened, Paul made up his mind to travel through Macedonia and Achaia and go on to Jerusalem. “After I go there,” he said, “I must also see Rome.”
22. So he sent Timothy and Erastus, two of his helpers, to Macedonia, while he spent more time in the province of Asia.
23. It was at this time that there was serious trouble in Ephesus because of the Way of the Lord.
24. A certain silversmith named Demetrius made silver models of the temple of the goddess Artemis, and his business brought a great deal of profit to the workers.
25. So he called them all together with others whose work was like theirs and said to them, “Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this work.
26. Now, you can see and hear for yourselves what this fellow Paul is doing. He says that gods made by human hands are not gods at all, and he has succeeded in convincing many people, both here in Ephesus and in nearly the whole province of Asia.
27. There is the danger, then, that this business of ours will get a bad name. Not only that, but there is also the danger that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will come to mean nothing and that her greatness will be destroyed — the goddess worshipped by everyone in Asia and in all the world!”
28. As the crowd heard these words, they became furious and started shouting, “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!”
29. The uproar spread throughout the whole city. The mob seized Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians who were travelling with Paul, and rushed with them to the theatre.
30. Paul himself wanted to go before the crowd, but the believers would not let him.
31. Some of the provincial authorities, who were his friends, also sent him a message begging him not to show himself in the theatre.
32. Meanwhile the whole meeting was in an uproar: some people were shouting one thing, others were shouting something else, because most of them did not even know why they had come together.
33. Some of the people concluded that Alexander was responsible, since the Jews made him go up to the front. Then Alexander motioned with his hand for the people to be silent, and he tried to make a speech of defence.
34. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted together the same thing for two hours: “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!”
35. At last the town clerk was able to calm the crowd. “Fellow-Ephesians!” he said. “Everyone knows that the city of Ephesus is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of the sacred stone that fell down from heaven.
36. Nobody can deny these things. So then, you must calm down and not do anything reckless.
37. You have brought these men here even though they have not robbed temples or said evil things about our goddess.