Acts 19:23-31

23 About that time ¹there arose no little disturbance concerning ²the Way.

24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, ³brought no little business to the craftsmen.

25 ⁴These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.

26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, ⁵saying that ⁶gods made with hands are not gods.

27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the ⁷great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship. ”

28 When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, ⁸“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! ”

29 So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and ⁹Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s ¹⁰companions in travel.

30 But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.

31 And even some of the Asiarchs, ^[a] who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.

Cross References

• 1. 19:23 [2 Cor. 1:8]
• 2. 19:23 ver. 9
• 3. 19:24 [ch. 16:16, 19]
• 4. 19:25 [See ver. 24 above]
• 5. 19:26 ch. 14:15; 17:29; 1 Cor. 8:4
• 6. 19:26 Deut. 4:28; 2 Kgs. 19:18; Ps. 115:4; Isa. 44:10-20; Jer. 10:3-6; Rev. 9:20
• 7. 19:27 [ch. 8:10]
• 8. 19:28 [See ver. 27 above]
• 9. 19:29 ch. 20:4; 27:2; Col. 4:10; Philem. 24
• 10. 19:29 2 Cor. 8:19; [ver. 22; ch. 20:34]

Footnotes

• [a] 19:31 That is, high-ranking officers of the province of Asia