22. So after sending two who were assisting him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.
23. Around that time, there arose no small uproar concerning the Way.
24. For a man named Demetrius—a silversmith, a maker of silver shrines of Artemis—was providing no small amount of business to the craftsmen.
25. He gathered these together, along with those of related occupations, and he said, “Men, you know that our wealth is from this business.
26. You see and hear that not only in Ephesus but also throughout all Asia, Paul has persuaded and perverted a considerable crowd, saying that handmade gods are not gods at all.
27. Not only is there a danger that this trade of ours might come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis might be considered as nothing. She whom all Asia and the world worships might even be thrown down from her majesty.”
28. When they heard, they were filled with fury and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
29. The city was filled with confusion. They rushed into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were travel companions of Paul.