Acts 19:21-38

Paul had it in his heart to go to Jerusalem and, on his way there, to revisit the places in Greece where he had ministered. “After that,” he said, “I have to go to Rome also.” So he sent ahead into Macedonia two of his ministry assistants, Timothy and Erastus, while he remained in western Turkey. At that time a major disturbance erupted in Ephesus over the people following God’s way. It began with a wealthy man named Demetrius, who had built a large business and enriched many craftsmen by manufacturing silver shrines for the Greek goddess Artemis. Demetrius called a meeting of his employees, along with all the various tradespeople of Ephesus, and said, “You know that our prosperous livelihood is being threatened by this Paul, who is persuading crowds of people to turn away from our gods. We make a good living by doing what we do, but everywhere Paul goes, not only here in Ephesus but throughout western Turkey, he convinces people that there’s no such thing as a god made with hands. Our businesses are in danger of being discredited. And not only that, but the temple of our great goddess Artemis is being dishonored and seen as worthless. She is the goddess of all of western Turkey and is worshiped in all the world. But if this outrage continues, everyone everywhere will suffer the loss of her magnificent greatness.” When the people heard this, they were filled with boiling rage. They shouted over and over, “Artemis, the great goddess of the Ephesians!” The entire city was thrown into chaos as everyone rushed into the stadium together, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia. When Paul attempted to go in and speak to the massive crowd, the disciples wouldn’t let him. Some of the high-ranking governmental officials of the region, because they loved him, sent Paul an urgent message, saying, “Whatever you do, don’t step foot into that stadium!” The frenzied crowd shouted out one thing, and others shouted something else, until they were all in mass confusion, with many not even knowing why they were there! Some of the Jews pushed forward a Jewish man named Alexander to be their spokesman, and different factions of the crowd shouted instructions at him. He stood before the people and motioned for everyone to be quiet so he could be heard. But when he began to speak, they realized that he was a Jew, so they shouted him down. For nearly two hours they shouted over and over, “Great is Artemis, the goddess of the Ephesians!” Eventually the mayor of the city was able to quiet them down. He said, “Fellow citizens! Who in the world doesn’t know that we are devoted to the great temple of Artemis and to her image that fell from Zeus out of heaven? Since no one can deny it, you should all just be quiet. Calm down and don’t do anything hasty. For you have brought these men before us who aren’t guilty of any crime. They are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. So if Demetrius and the men of his trade have a case against someone, the courts are open. They can appear before the judge and press charges.