LESSON 82
TROUBLE AT EPHASUS
Acts 19:21-41 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
21 After
this, Paul made plans to go to Jerusalem.
He planned to go through the regions of Macedonia and Achaia, and then go to
Jerusalem. He thought, “After I visit Jerusalem, I must also visit Rome.” 22 Timothy and Erastus were two of his helpers. Paul sent them ahead
to Macedonia. But he stayed in Asia for a while.
23 But
during that time there was some trouble in Ephesus about the Way. This is how it all happened: 24 There was a man named Demetrius.
He worked with silver. He made little silver models that looked like the temple
of the goddess Artemis. The men who did this work made a lot of money. 25 Demetrius
had a meeting with these men and some others who did the same kind of work. He told
them, “Men, you know that we make a lot of money from our business. 26 But look at what this man
Paul is doing. Listen to what he is saying. He has convinced many people in
Ephesus and all over Asia to change their religion. He says the gods that
people make by hand are not real. 27 I’m afraid this is going to
turn people against our business. But there is also another problem. People
will begin to think that the temple of the great goddess Artemis is not
important. Her greatness will be destroyed. And Artemis is the goddess that
everyone in Asia and the whole world worships.” 28 When the men heard this, they became very angry. They shouted,
“Great is Artemis, the goddess of Ephesus!” 29 The whole city was thrown into confusion. The people grabbed Gaius
and Aristarchus, men from Macedonia who were traveling with Paul, and rushed
all together into the stadium. 30 Paul wanted to go in and talk to the people, but the Lord’s
followers did not let him go. 31 Also, some leaders of the country who were friends of Paul sent
him a message telling him not to go into the stadium. 32 Some people were shouting one thing and others were shouting
something else. The meeting was very confused. Most of the people did not know
why they had come there. 33 Some Jews made a man named Alexander stand before the crowd, and
they told him what to say. Alexander waved his hand, trying to explain things
to the people. 34 But when
the people saw that Alexander was a Jew, they all began shouting the same
thing. For two hours they continued shouting, “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!
Great is Artemis of Ephesus! Great is Artemis …!” 35 Then the city clerk persuaded the people to be quiet. He said, “Men of Ephesus,
everyone knows that Ephesus is the city that keeps the temple of the great
goddess Artemis. Everyone knows that we also keep her holy rock.[a] 36 No one can deny this, so you should be quiet. You must stop and
think before you do anything else. 37 “You
brought these men[b] here, but
they have not said anything bad against our goddess. They have not stolen
anything from her temple.38 We have courts of law and there are judges. Do Demetrius and those
men who work with him have a charge against anyone? They should go to the
courts. Let them argue with each other there.
39 “Is there something else
you want to talk about? Then come to the regular town meeting of the people. It
can be decided there. 40 I say this because someone
might see this trouble today and say we are rioting. We could not explain all
this trouble, because there is no real reason for this meeting.” 41 After the city clerk said this, he told the people to go
home.
