Acts 18:23-21:16 - LSB - Legacy Standard Bible

Acts 18:23-21:16

23 And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the ^aGalatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
24 Now a Jew named ^aApollos, an ^bAlexandrian by birth, ¹an eloquent man, arrived at ^cEphesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in ^athe way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with ^bthe baptism of John; 26 and ¹he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when ^aPriscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him ^bthe way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wanted to go across to ^aAchaia, ^bthe brothers encouraged him and wrote to ^cthe disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly ¹helped those who had believed through grace, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating ^aby the Scriptures that ^bJesus is the ¹Christ.

Paul in Ephesus

Now it happened that while ^aApollos was at ^bCorinth, Paul passed through the ^cupper regions and came to ^dEphesus and found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, “^aDid you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, ^bwe have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “^aInto John’s baptism.” 4 Then Paul said, “^aJohn baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people ^bto believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 And when they heard this, they were ^abaptized ¹in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had ^alaid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began ^bspeaking with tongues and ^cprophesying. 7 Now there were in all about twelve men.
8 And after he entered ^athe synagogue, he continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them ^babout the kingdom of God. 9 But when ^asome were becoming hardened and were not believing, speaking evil of ^bthe Way before the multitude, he left them and took away ^cthe disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 This took place for ^atwo years, so that all who lived in ¹^bAsia heard ^cthe word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Miracles in Ephesus

11 And God was doing ^aextraordinary ¹miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 ^aso that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and ^bthe evil spirits went out. 13 But also some of the Jewish ^aexorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I implore you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” 16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in ^aEphesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. 18 Also, many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. 19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and were burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand ¹^apieces of silver. 20 So ¹^athe word of the Lord ^bwas growing mightily and prevailing.

Riots in Ephesus

21 Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the ¹Spirit to ^ago to Jerusalem ^bafter he had passed through ^cMacedonia and ^dAchaia, saying, “After I have been there, ^eI must also see Rome.” 22 And having sent into ^aMacedonia two of ^bthose who ministered to him, ^cTimothy and ^dErastus, he himself stayed in ¹^eAsia for a while.
23 Now about that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning ^athe Way. 24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of ¹Artemis, ^awas bringing no little ²business to the craftsmen; 25 these he gathered together with the workers of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is from this business. 26 And you see and hear that not only in ^aEphesus, but in almost all of ^bAsia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable crowd, saying that ^cthings made with hands are not gods. 27 And not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess ¹Artemis be considered as worthless and that she, whom all of ^aAsia and ^bthe ²world worship, is even about to be brought down from her majesty.”
28 When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, “Great is ¹Artemis of the ^aEphesians!” 29 And the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed ¹with one accord into the theater, dragging along ^aGaius and ^bAristarchus, Paul’s traveling ^ccompanions from ^dMacedonia. 30 And when Paul wanted to go into the ¹assembly, ^athe disciples would not let him. 31 Also some of the ¹Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to ²venture into the theater. 32 ^aSo then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the ¹meeting was in confusion and the majority did not know ²for what reason they had come together. 33 And some of the crowd ¹concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having ^amotioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the ²assembly. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single cry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 35 Now after calming the crowd, the city clerk *said, “Men of ^aEphesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from heaven? 36 So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash. 37 For you have brought these men here who are neither ^arobbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38 So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are in session and ¹^aproconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another. 39 But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the ¹lawful meeting. 40 For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s events, since there is no cause for which we can give as an account for this disorderly gathering.” 41 After saying this he dismissed the meeting.

Through Macedonia and Greece

Now after the uproar had ceased, Paul having summoned and exhorted ^athe disciples, said farewell and left ^bto go to ^cMacedonia. 2 And when he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece. 3 And there he spent three months, and when ^aa plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for ^bSyria, he decided to return through ^cMacedonia. 4 And he was accompanied by Sopater of ^aBerea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by ^bAristarchus and Secundus of the ^cThessalonians, and ^bGaius of ^dDerbe, and ^eTimothy, and ^fTychicus and ^gTrophimus of ¹^hAsia. 5 But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for ^aus at ^bTroas. 6 ^aAnd we sailed from ^bPhilippi after ^cthe days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at ^dTroas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.

Eutychus Raised from the Dead in Troas

7 And on ^athe first day of the week, when ^bwe were gathered together to ^cbreak bread, Paul began speaking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his ¹message until midnight. 8 Now there were many ^alamps in the ^bupper room where we were gathered together. 9 And there was a young man named ¹Eutychus sitting on the windowsill, sinking into a deep sleep. And as Paul kept on talking, he sunk into that sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down and ^afell upon him, and after embracing him, he ^bsaid, “¹Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” 11 And when he had gone back up and had ^abroken the bread and ¹eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. 12 And they took away the boy alive, and were not a little comforted.

Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

13 But ^awe, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go ¹by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. 15 And sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to ^aMiletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past ^aEphesus so that he would not have to spend time in ¹^bAsia; for he was hurrying ^cto be in Jerusalem, if possible, ^don the day of Pentecost.
17 Now from Miletus he sent to ^aEphesus and called to him ^bthe elders of the church. 18 And when they had come to him, he said to them,
“You yourselves know, ^afrom the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me ¹through ^athe plots of the Jews; 20 how I ^adid not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and ¹from house to house, 21 solemnly ^atestifying to both Jews and Greeks about ^brepentance toward God and ^cfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, bound by the ¹Spirit, ^aI am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that ^athe Holy Spirit solemnly ^btestifies to me in every city, saying that ^cchains and afflictions await me. 24 But ^aI do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself, so that I may ^bfinish my course and ^cthe ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to ^dtestify solemnly of the gospel of ^ethe grace of God.
25 “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about ^apreaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. 26 Therefore, I ¹testify to you this day that ^aI am ²innocent of the blood of all. 27 For I ^adid not shrink from declaring to you the whole ^bpurpose of God. 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all ^athe flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you ¹overseers, to shepherd ^bthe church of God which ^cHe ²purchased ³with His own blood. 29 I know that after my departure ^asavage wolves will come in among you, not sparing ^bthe flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away ^athe disciples after them. 31 Therefore be watchful, remembering that night and day for a period of ^athree years I did not cease to admonish each one ^bwith tears. 32 And now I ^acommend you to God and to ^bthe word of His grace, which is able to ^cbuild you up and to give you ^dthe inheritance among all those who have been sanctified. 33 ^aI have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. 34 You yourselves know that ^athese hands ministered to my own needs and to those ^bwho were with me. 35 In everything I showed you that by laboring in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 And when he had said these things, he ^aknelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And ¹they began to weep aloud and ^afalling on Paul’s neck, they were kissing him, 38 being in agony especially over ^athe word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were ^baccompanying him to the ship.

Paul Sets Out for Jerusalem

Now when ^awe had parted from them and had set sail, we came by ^ba straight course to Cos and the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara; 2 and having found a ship crossing over to ^aPhoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. 3 And when we came in sight of ^aCyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to ^bSyria and landed at ^cTyre; for there the ship was to unload its cargo. 4 And after looking up ^athe disciples, we stayed there seven days; and they kept telling Paul ^bthrough the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. 5 And when ¹our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, ^aescorted us until we were out of the city. After ^bkneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another. 6 Then we went on board the ship, and they returned ^ahome again.
7 And when we had finished the voyage from ^aTyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting ^bthe brothers, we stayed with them for a day. 8 And on the next day we left and came to ^aCaesarea, and entering the house of ^bPhilip the ^cevangelist, who was ^bone of the seven, we stayed with him. 9 Now this man had four virgin daughters who ^aprophesied. 10 And as we were staying there for some days, a prophet named ^aAgabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he ^atook Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This ^bis what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will ^cbind the man who owns this belt and ^ddeliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” 12 And when we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him ^anot to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, crying and breaking my heart? For ^aI am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for ^bthe name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, saying, “^aThe will of the Lord be done!”
15 Now after these days we got ready and ^astarted on our way up to Jerusalem. 16 And some of ^athe disciples from ^bCaesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of ^cCyprus, an ^dearly disciple with whom we were to lodge.