Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Baptism with the holy ghost » Necessity for
Jesus answered, "I most solemnly say to you, no one can ever get into the kingdom of God, unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
Verse Concepts
and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "So far from that, we never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." He then asked, "With what sort of baptism then were you baptized?" They answered, "With John's baptism." Then Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism that was an expression of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was to come after him; that is, in Jesus." read more.
On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in foreign tongues and to prophesy.
On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in foreign tongues and to prophesy.
Missionary journeys » Ac 13-14 » Third - with timothy and others
After spending some time there, he started out again, and by a definite schedule traveled all over Galatia and Phrygia, imparting new strength to all the disciples. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was a native of Alexandria, a learned man, and skillful in the use of the Scriptures. He had been instructed about the way of the Lord, and with spiritual fervor he was speaking and was accurately teaching some details about Jesus, although he knew of no baptism but John's. read more.
He started speaking courageously in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and more accurately explained the way of God to him. Because he wished to cross to Greece, the brothers wrote and urged the disciples there to welcome him. On his arrival he rendered great service to those who through God's favor had believed, for he successfully refuted the Jews in public and proved by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. It was while Apollos was in Corinth that Paul, by passing through the inland districts, came to Ephesus. He found a few disciples there and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "So far from that, we never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." He then asked, "With what sort of baptism then were you baptized?" They answered, "With John's baptism." Then Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism that was an expression of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was to come after him; that is, in Jesus." On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in foreign tongues and to prophesy. In all there were about twelve men. He went to the synagogue there and for three months courageously spoke, keeping up his discussions and continuing to persuade them about the kingdom of God. But as some of them grew harder and harder and refused to believe, actually criticizing The Way before the people, he left them, withdrew his disciples, and continued his discussions in the lecture-hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that everybody living in the province of Asia, Greeks as well as Jews, heard the Lord's message. God also continued to do such wonder-works through Paul as an instrument that the people carried off to the sick, towels or aprons used by him, and at their touch they were cured of their diseases, and the evil spirits went out of them. But some wandering Jews who claimed to be driving out the evil spirits tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had evil spirits in them, saying, "I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches!" Sceva, a Jewish high priest, had seven sons who were doing this. But on one occasion the evil spirit answered, "Jesus I know and Paul I know about, but who are you?" So the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaped upon them and so violently overpowered two of them that they ran out of the house stripped of their clothes and wounded. This at once became known to everybody living in Ephesus, Greeks as well as Jews, and awe fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus began to be held in high honor. And many who became believers kept coming and confessing and uncovering their former practices. Many people who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them up before the public gaze. They estimated the price of them and found it to be ten thousand dollars. In a way of just such power as this the Lord's message kept on spreading and prevailing. After these events had been brought to a close, Paul under the guidance of the Spirit decided to pass through Macedonia and Greece on his way to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have gone there I must see Rome too." So he sent off to Macedonia two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, while he stayed on for a while in Asia. Now just about that time a great commotion arose about The Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, by manufacturing silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing in great profits to his workmen. He called together his workmen, and others engaged in similar trades, and said to them: "Men, you well know that our prosperity depends on this business of ours, and you see and hear that, not only in Ephesus but all over the province of Asia, this man Paul has led away a vast number of people by persuading them, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all. Now the danger facing us is, not only that our business will lose its reputation but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be brought into contempt and that she whom all Asia and all the world now worship will soon be dethroned from her majestic glory!" When they heard this, they became furious and kept on shouting, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" So the whole city was thrown into confusion and with one impulse the people rushed into the theatre and dragged with them two Macedonians, Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions. Paul wanted to go into the assembly and address the people, but the disciples would not let him. Some of the public officials in Asia, who were friendly to him, also sent word to him, begging him not to risk himself in the theatre. So they kept on shouting, some one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority of them did not know why they had met. Some of the crowd concluded that it was Alexander, since the Jews had pushed him to the front, and since Alexander had made a gesture of the hand as though he would make a defense before the people. But as soon as they saw that he was a Jew, a shout went up from them all as the shout of one man, lasting for two hours: "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" At last the city recorder quieted the mob and said: "Men of Ephesus, who in the world does not know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image that fell down from heaven? So, as this cannot be denied, you must be quiet and do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here, although they are not guilty of sacrilege or of abusive speech against our goddess. So then, if Demetrius and his fellow-workmen have a charge against anybody, there are the courts and the judges; let them go to law. But if you require anything beyond this, it must be settled in the regular assembly. For we are in danger of being charged with rioting for today's assembly, as there is not a single reason we can give for it." With these words he dismissed the assembly. When the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them. Then he bade them goodbye and started off for Macedonia. He passed through those districts and by continuing to talk to them encouraged the people. He then went on to Greece where he stayed three months. Just as he was about to sail for Syria, he changed his mind and returned by way of Macedonia, because a plot against him had been laid by the Jews. He had as companions Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. They went on to Troas and waited there for us, while we, after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, sailed from Philippi, and five days after joined them at Troas, where we spent a week. On the first day of the week when we had met to break bread, Paul addressed them, since he was leaving the next day, and prolonged his speech till midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we met, and a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting by the window, was gradually overcome by heavy drowsiness, as Paul kept speaking longer and longer, and at last he went fast asleep and fell from the third story to the ground and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell on him and embraced him, and said, "Stop being alarmed, his life is still in him." So he went back upstairs, and broke the bread and ate with them, and after talking with them extendedly, even till daylight, he left them. Then they took the boy home alive, and were greatly comforted. We had already gone on board the ship and set sail for Assos, where we were to take Paul on board; for it had been so arranged by him, as he intended to travel there on foot. So when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and sailed on to Mitylene. On the next day we sailed from there and arrived off Chios. On the next day we crossed to Samos, and the next we reached Miletus. For Paul's plan was to sail past Ephesus, so as not to lose any time in the province of Asia; for he was eager, if possible, to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived among you all the time from the day I first set foot in the province of Asia, and how I continued to serve the Lord with all humility and in tears, through the trials that befell me because of the plots of the Jews. I never shrank from telling you anything that was for your good, nor from teaching you in public and in private, but constantly and earnestly I urged Greeks as well as Jews to turn with repentance to God and to have faith in our Lord Jesus. And I am here now on my way to Jerusalem, because I am impelled by the Spirit to do so, though I am not aware what will befall me there, except that in town after town the Holy Spirit emphatically assures me that imprisonment and sufferings are awaiting me. But now I count as nothing the sacrifice of my life, if only I can finish my race and render the service entrusted to me by the Lord Jesus, of faithfully telling the good news of God's favor. And now I know that none of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will ever see my face again. I therefore protest to you today that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I never shrank from telling you God's whole plan. Take care of yourselves and of the whole flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, so as to continue to be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. Because I know that after I have gone violent wolves will break in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will appear who will try, by speaking perversions of truth, to draw away the disciples after them. So ever be on your guard and always remember that for three years, night and day, I never ceased warning you one by one, and that with tears. And now I commit you to the Lord, and to the message of His favor, which is able to build you up and to give you your proper possession among all God's consecrated people. I have never coveted any man's silver or gold or clothes. You know yourselves that these hands of mine provided for my own needs and for my companions. In everything I showed you that by working hard like this we must help those who are weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It makes one happier to give than to get.'" After he had finished this speech, he fell on his knees with them all and prayed. There was loud weeping by them all, as they threw their arms around Paul's neck and kept on kissing him with affection, (44:37) because they were especially pained at his saying that they would never see his face again. Then they went down to the ship with him. When we had torn ourselves away from them, we struck a bee line for Cos, and the next day on to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. There we found a ship bound for Phoenicia, and so we went aboard and sailed away. After sighting Cyprus and leaving it on our left, we sailed on for Syria, and put in at Tyre, for the ship was to unload her cargo there. So we looked up the disciples there and stayed a week with them. Because of impressions made by the Spirit they kept on warning Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem. But when our time was up, we left there and went on, and all of them with their wives and children accompanied us out of town. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed; there we bade one another goodbye, and we went aboard the ship, while they went back. On finishing the sail from Tyre we landed at Ptolemais. Here we greeted the brothers and spent a day with them. The next day we left there and went on to Caesarea, where we went to the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who were prophetesses. While we were spending some days here, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to see us and took Paul's belt and with it bound his own hands and feet, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says, 'The Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt like this, and then will turn him over to the heathen.'" When we heard this, we and all the people there begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by crying and breaking my heart? Why, I am ready not only to be bound at Jerusalem but to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus." So, since he would not yield to our appeal, we stopped begging him, and said, "The Lord's will be done!" After this we got ready and started up to Jerusalem.
He started speaking courageously in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and more accurately explained the way of God to him. Because he wished to cross to Greece, the brothers wrote and urged the disciples there to welcome him. On his arrival he rendered great service to those who through God's favor had believed, for he successfully refuted the Jews in public and proved by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. It was while Apollos was in Corinth that Paul, by passing through the inland districts, came to Ephesus. He found a few disciples there and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "So far from that, we never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." He then asked, "With what sort of baptism then were you baptized?" They answered, "With John's baptism." Then Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism that was an expression of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was to come after him; that is, in Jesus." On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in foreign tongues and to prophesy. In all there were about twelve men. He went to the synagogue there and for three months courageously spoke, keeping up his discussions and continuing to persuade them about the kingdom of God. But as some of them grew harder and harder and refused to believe, actually criticizing The Way before the people, he left them, withdrew his disciples, and continued his discussions in the lecture-hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that everybody living in the province of Asia, Greeks as well as Jews, heard the Lord's message. God also continued to do such wonder-works through Paul as an instrument that the people carried off to the sick, towels or aprons used by him, and at their touch they were cured of their diseases, and the evil spirits went out of them. But some wandering Jews who claimed to be driving out the evil spirits tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had evil spirits in them, saying, "I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches!" Sceva, a Jewish high priest, had seven sons who were doing this. But on one occasion the evil spirit answered, "Jesus I know and Paul I know about, but who are you?" So the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaped upon them and so violently overpowered two of them that they ran out of the house stripped of their clothes and wounded. This at once became known to everybody living in Ephesus, Greeks as well as Jews, and awe fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus began to be held in high honor. And many who became believers kept coming and confessing and uncovering their former practices. Many people who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them up before the public gaze. They estimated the price of them and found it to be ten thousand dollars. In a way of just such power as this the Lord's message kept on spreading and prevailing. After these events had been brought to a close, Paul under the guidance of the Spirit decided to pass through Macedonia and Greece on his way to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have gone there I must see Rome too." So he sent off to Macedonia two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, while he stayed on for a while in Asia. Now just about that time a great commotion arose about The Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, by manufacturing silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing in great profits to his workmen. He called together his workmen, and others engaged in similar trades, and said to them: "Men, you well know that our prosperity depends on this business of ours, and you see and hear that, not only in Ephesus but all over the province of Asia, this man Paul has led away a vast number of people by persuading them, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all. Now the danger facing us is, not only that our business will lose its reputation but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be brought into contempt and that she whom all Asia and all the world now worship will soon be dethroned from her majestic glory!" When they heard this, they became furious and kept on shouting, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" So the whole city was thrown into confusion and with one impulse the people rushed into the theatre and dragged with them two Macedonians, Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions. Paul wanted to go into the assembly and address the people, but the disciples would not let him. Some of the public officials in Asia, who were friendly to him, also sent word to him, begging him not to risk himself in the theatre. So they kept on shouting, some one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority of them did not know why they had met. Some of the crowd concluded that it was Alexander, since the Jews had pushed him to the front, and since Alexander had made a gesture of the hand as though he would make a defense before the people. But as soon as they saw that he was a Jew, a shout went up from them all as the shout of one man, lasting for two hours: "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" At last the city recorder quieted the mob and said: "Men of Ephesus, who in the world does not know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image that fell down from heaven? So, as this cannot be denied, you must be quiet and do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here, although they are not guilty of sacrilege or of abusive speech against our goddess. So then, if Demetrius and his fellow-workmen have a charge against anybody, there are the courts and the judges; let them go to law. But if you require anything beyond this, it must be settled in the regular assembly. For we are in danger of being charged with rioting for today's assembly, as there is not a single reason we can give for it." With these words he dismissed the assembly. When the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them. Then he bade them goodbye and started off for Macedonia. He passed through those districts and by continuing to talk to them encouraged the people. He then went on to Greece where he stayed three months. Just as he was about to sail for Syria, he changed his mind and returned by way of Macedonia, because a plot against him had been laid by the Jews. He had as companions Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. They went on to Troas and waited there for us, while we, after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, sailed from Philippi, and five days after joined them at Troas, where we spent a week. On the first day of the week when we had met to break bread, Paul addressed them, since he was leaving the next day, and prolonged his speech till midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we met, and a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting by the window, was gradually overcome by heavy drowsiness, as Paul kept speaking longer and longer, and at last he went fast asleep and fell from the third story to the ground and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell on him and embraced him, and said, "Stop being alarmed, his life is still in him." So he went back upstairs, and broke the bread and ate with them, and after talking with them extendedly, even till daylight, he left them. Then they took the boy home alive, and were greatly comforted. We had already gone on board the ship and set sail for Assos, where we were to take Paul on board; for it had been so arranged by him, as he intended to travel there on foot. So when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and sailed on to Mitylene. On the next day we sailed from there and arrived off Chios. On the next day we crossed to Samos, and the next we reached Miletus. For Paul's plan was to sail past Ephesus, so as not to lose any time in the province of Asia; for he was eager, if possible, to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived among you all the time from the day I first set foot in the province of Asia, and how I continued to serve the Lord with all humility and in tears, through the trials that befell me because of the plots of the Jews. I never shrank from telling you anything that was for your good, nor from teaching you in public and in private, but constantly and earnestly I urged Greeks as well as Jews to turn with repentance to God and to have faith in our Lord Jesus. And I am here now on my way to Jerusalem, because I am impelled by the Spirit to do so, though I am not aware what will befall me there, except that in town after town the Holy Spirit emphatically assures me that imprisonment and sufferings are awaiting me. But now I count as nothing the sacrifice of my life, if only I can finish my race and render the service entrusted to me by the Lord Jesus, of faithfully telling the good news of God's favor. And now I know that none of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will ever see my face again. I therefore protest to you today that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I never shrank from telling you God's whole plan. Take care of yourselves and of the whole flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, so as to continue to be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. Because I know that after I have gone violent wolves will break in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will appear who will try, by speaking perversions of truth, to draw away the disciples after them. So ever be on your guard and always remember that for three years, night and day, I never ceased warning you one by one, and that with tears. And now I commit you to the Lord, and to the message of His favor, which is able to build you up and to give you your proper possession among all God's consecrated people. I have never coveted any man's silver or gold or clothes. You know yourselves that these hands of mine provided for my own needs and for my companions. In everything I showed you that by working hard like this we must help those who are weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It makes one happier to give than to get.'" After he had finished this speech, he fell on his knees with them all and prayed. There was loud weeping by them all, as they threw their arms around Paul's neck and kept on kissing him with affection, (44:37) because they were especially pained at his saying that they would never see his face again. Then they went down to the ship with him. When we had torn ourselves away from them, we struck a bee line for Cos, and the next day on to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. There we found a ship bound for Phoenicia, and so we went aboard and sailed away. After sighting Cyprus and leaving it on our left, we sailed on for Syria, and put in at Tyre, for the ship was to unload her cargo there. So we looked up the disciples there and stayed a week with them. Because of impressions made by the Spirit they kept on warning Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem. But when our time was up, we left there and went on, and all of them with their wives and children accompanied us out of town. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed; there we bade one another goodbye, and we went aboard the ship, while they went back. On finishing the sail from Tyre we landed at Ptolemais. Here we greeted the brothers and spent a day with them. The next day we left there and went on to Caesarea, where we went to the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who were prophetesses. While we were spending some days here, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to see us and took Paul's belt and with it bound his own hands and feet, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says, 'The Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt like this, and then will turn him over to the heathen.'" When we heard this, we and all the people there begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by crying and breaking my heart? Why, I am ready not only to be bound at Jerusalem but to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus." So, since he would not yield to our appeal, we stopped begging him, and said, "The Lord's will be done!" After this we got ready and started up to Jerusalem.
Paul's » First - with barnabas and john mark ac 13-14 » Third - with timothy and others
After spending some time there, he started out again, and by a definite schedule traveled all over Galatia and Phrygia, imparting new strength to all the disciples. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was a native of Alexandria, a learned man, and skillful in the use of the Scriptures. He had been instructed about the way of the Lord, and with spiritual fervor he was speaking and was accurately teaching some details about Jesus, although he knew of no baptism but John's. read more.
He started speaking courageously in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and more accurately explained the way of God to him. Because he wished to cross to Greece, the brothers wrote and urged the disciples there to welcome him. On his arrival he rendered great service to those who through God's favor had believed, for he successfully refuted the Jews in public and proved by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. It was while Apollos was in Corinth that Paul, by passing through the inland districts, came to Ephesus. He found a few disciples there and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "So far from that, we never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." He then asked, "With what sort of baptism then were you baptized?" They answered, "With John's baptism." Then Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism that was an expression of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was to come after him; that is, in Jesus." On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in foreign tongues and to prophesy. In all there were about twelve men. He went to the synagogue there and for three months courageously spoke, keeping up his discussions and continuing to persuade them about the kingdom of God. But as some of them grew harder and harder and refused to believe, actually criticizing The Way before the people, he left them, withdrew his disciples, and continued his discussions in the lecture-hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that everybody living in the province of Asia, Greeks as well as Jews, heard the Lord's message. God also continued to do such wonder-works through Paul as an instrument that the people carried off to the sick, towels or aprons used by him, and at their touch they were cured of their diseases, and the evil spirits went out of them. But some wandering Jews who claimed to be driving out the evil spirits tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had evil spirits in them, saying, "I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches!" Sceva, a Jewish high priest, had seven sons who were doing this. But on one occasion the evil spirit answered, "Jesus I know and Paul I know about, but who are you?" So the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaped upon them and so violently overpowered two of them that they ran out of the house stripped of their clothes and wounded. This at once became known to everybody living in Ephesus, Greeks as well as Jews, and awe fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus began to be held in high honor. And many who became believers kept coming and confessing and uncovering their former practices. Many people who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them up before the public gaze. They estimated the price of them and found it to be ten thousand dollars. In a way of just such power as this the Lord's message kept on spreading and prevailing. After these events had been brought to a close, Paul under the guidance of the Spirit decided to pass through Macedonia and Greece on his way to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have gone there I must see Rome too." So he sent off to Macedonia two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, while he stayed on for a while in Asia. Now just about that time a great commotion arose about The Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, by manufacturing silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing in great profits to his workmen. He called together his workmen, and others engaged in similar trades, and said to them: "Men, you well know that our prosperity depends on this business of ours, and you see and hear that, not only in Ephesus but all over the province of Asia, this man Paul has led away a vast number of people by persuading them, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all. Now the danger facing us is, not only that our business will lose its reputation but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be brought into contempt and that she whom all Asia and all the world now worship will soon be dethroned from her majestic glory!" When they heard this, they became furious and kept on shouting, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" So the whole city was thrown into confusion and with one impulse the people rushed into the theatre and dragged with them two Macedonians, Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions. Paul wanted to go into the assembly and address the people, but the disciples would not let him. Some of the public officials in Asia, who were friendly to him, also sent word to him, begging him not to risk himself in the theatre. So they kept on shouting, some one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority of them did not know why they had met. Some of the crowd concluded that it was Alexander, since the Jews had pushed him to the front, and since Alexander had made a gesture of the hand as though he would make a defense before the people. But as soon as they saw that he was a Jew, a shout went up from them all as the shout of one man, lasting for two hours: "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" At last the city recorder quieted the mob and said: "Men of Ephesus, who in the world does not know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image that fell down from heaven? So, as this cannot be denied, you must be quiet and do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here, although they are not guilty of sacrilege or of abusive speech against our goddess. So then, if Demetrius and his fellow-workmen have a charge against anybody, there are the courts and the judges; let them go to law. But if you require anything beyond this, it must be settled in the regular assembly. For we are in danger of being charged with rioting for today's assembly, as there is not a single reason we can give for it." With these words he dismissed the assembly. When the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them. Then he bade them goodbye and started off for Macedonia. He passed through those districts and by continuing to talk to them encouraged the people. He then went on to Greece where he stayed three months. Just as he was about to sail for Syria, he changed his mind and returned by way of Macedonia, because a plot against him had been laid by the Jews. He had as companions Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. They went on to Troas and waited there for us, while we, after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, sailed from Philippi, and five days after joined them at Troas, where we spent a week. On the first day of the week when we had met to break bread, Paul addressed them, since he was leaving the next day, and prolonged his speech till midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we met, and a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting by the window, was gradually overcome by heavy drowsiness, as Paul kept speaking longer and longer, and at last he went fast asleep and fell from the third story to the ground and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell on him and embraced him, and said, "Stop being alarmed, his life is still in him." So he went back upstairs, and broke the bread and ate with them, and after talking with them extendedly, even till daylight, he left them. Then they took the boy home alive, and were greatly comforted. We had already gone on board the ship and set sail for Assos, where we were to take Paul on board; for it had been so arranged by him, as he intended to travel there on foot. So when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and sailed on to Mitylene. On the next day we sailed from there and arrived off Chios. On the next day we crossed to Samos, and the next we reached Miletus. For Paul's plan was to sail past Ephesus, so as not to lose any time in the province of Asia; for he was eager, if possible, to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived among you all the time from the day I first set foot in the province of Asia, and how I continued to serve the Lord with all humility and in tears, through the trials that befell me because of the plots of the Jews. I never shrank from telling you anything that was for your good, nor from teaching you in public and in private, but constantly and earnestly I urged Greeks as well as Jews to turn with repentance to God and to have faith in our Lord Jesus. And I am here now on my way to Jerusalem, because I am impelled by the Spirit to do so, though I am not aware what will befall me there, except that in town after town the Holy Spirit emphatically assures me that imprisonment and sufferings are awaiting me. But now I count as nothing the sacrifice of my life, if only I can finish my race and render the service entrusted to me by the Lord Jesus, of faithfully telling the good news of God's favor. And now I know that none of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will ever see my face again. I therefore protest to you today that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I never shrank from telling you God's whole plan. Take care of yourselves and of the whole flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, so as to continue to be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. Because I know that after I have gone violent wolves will break in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will appear who will try, by speaking perversions of truth, to draw away the disciples after them. So ever be on your guard and always remember that for three years, night and day, I never ceased warning you one by one, and that with tears. And now I commit you to the Lord, and to the message of His favor, which is able to build you up and to give you your proper possession among all God's consecrated people. I have never coveted any man's silver or gold or clothes. You know yourselves that these hands of mine provided for my own needs and for my companions. In everything I showed you that by working hard like this we must help those who are weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It makes one happier to give than to get.'" After he had finished this speech, he fell on his knees with them all and prayed. There was loud weeping by them all, as they threw their arms around Paul's neck and kept on kissing him with affection, (44:37) because they were especially pained at his saying that they would never see his face again. Then they went down to the ship with him. When we had torn ourselves away from them, we struck a bee line for Cos, and the next day on to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. There we found a ship bound for Phoenicia, and so we went aboard and sailed away. After sighting Cyprus and leaving it on our left, we sailed on for Syria, and put in at Tyre, for the ship was to unload her cargo there. So we looked up the disciples there and stayed a week with them. Because of impressions made by the Spirit they kept on warning Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem. But when our time was up, we left there and went on, and all of them with their wives and children accompanied us out of town. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed; there we bade one another goodbye, and we went aboard the ship, while they went back. On finishing the sail from Tyre we landed at Ptolemais. Here we greeted the brothers and spent a day with them. The next day we left there and went on to Caesarea, where we went to the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who were prophetesses. While we were spending some days here, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to see us and took Paul's belt and with it bound his own hands and feet, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says, 'The Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt like this, and then will turn him over to the heathen.'" When we heard this, we and all the people there begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by crying and breaking my heart? Why, I am ready not only to be bound at Jerusalem but to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus." So, since he would not yield to our appeal, we stopped begging him, and said, "The Lord's will be done!" After this we got ready and started up to Jerusalem.
He started speaking courageously in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and more accurately explained the way of God to him. Because he wished to cross to Greece, the brothers wrote and urged the disciples there to welcome him. On his arrival he rendered great service to those who through God's favor had believed, for he successfully refuted the Jews in public and proved by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. It was while Apollos was in Corinth that Paul, by passing through the inland districts, came to Ephesus. He found a few disciples there and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "So far from that, we never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." He then asked, "With what sort of baptism then were you baptized?" They answered, "With John's baptism." Then Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism that was an expression of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was to come after him; that is, in Jesus." On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in foreign tongues and to prophesy. In all there were about twelve men. He went to the synagogue there and for three months courageously spoke, keeping up his discussions and continuing to persuade them about the kingdom of God. But as some of them grew harder and harder and refused to believe, actually criticizing The Way before the people, he left them, withdrew his disciples, and continued his discussions in the lecture-hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that everybody living in the province of Asia, Greeks as well as Jews, heard the Lord's message. God also continued to do such wonder-works through Paul as an instrument that the people carried off to the sick, towels or aprons used by him, and at their touch they were cured of their diseases, and the evil spirits went out of them. But some wandering Jews who claimed to be driving out the evil spirits tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had evil spirits in them, saying, "I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches!" Sceva, a Jewish high priest, had seven sons who were doing this. But on one occasion the evil spirit answered, "Jesus I know and Paul I know about, but who are you?" So the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaped upon them and so violently overpowered two of them that they ran out of the house stripped of their clothes and wounded. This at once became known to everybody living in Ephesus, Greeks as well as Jews, and awe fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus began to be held in high honor. And many who became believers kept coming and confessing and uncovering their former practices. Many people who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them up before the public gaze. They estimated the price of them and found it to be ten thousand dollars. In a way of just such power as this the Lord's message kept on spreading and prevailing. After these events had been brought to a close, Paul under the guidance of the Spirit decided to pass through Macedonia and Greece on his way to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have gone there I must see Rome too." So he sent off to Macedonia two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, while he stayed on for a while in Asia. Now just about that time a great commotion arose about The Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, by manufacturing silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing in great profits to his workmen. He called together his workmen, and others engaged in similar trades, and said to them: "Men, you well know that our prosperity depends on this business of ours, and you see and hear that, not only in Ephesus but all over the province of Asia, this man Paul has led away a vast number of people by persuading them, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all. Now the danger facing us is, not only that our business will lose its reputation but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be brought into contempt and that she whom all Asia and all the world now worship will soon be dethroned from her majestic glory!" When they heard this, they became furious and kept on shouting, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" So the whole city was thrown into confusion and with one impulse the people rushed into the theatre and dragged with them two Macedonians, Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions. Paul wanted to go into the assembly and address the people, but the disciples would not let him. Some of the public officials in Asia, who were friendly to him, also sent word to him, begging him not to risk himself in the theatre. So they kept on shouting, some one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority of them did not know why they had met. Some of the crowd concluded that it was Alexander, since the Jews had pushed him to the front, and since Alexander had made a gesture of the hand as though he would make a defense before the people. But as soon as they saw that he was a Jew, a shout went up from them all as the shout of one man, lasting for two hours: "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" At last the city recorder quieted the mob and said: "Men of Ephesus, who in the world does not know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image that fell down from heaven? So, as this cannot be denied, you must be quiet and do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here, although they are not guilty of sacrilege or of abusive speech against our goddess. So then, if Demetrius and his fellow-workmen have a charge against anybody, there are the courts and the judges; let them go to law. But if you require anything beyond this, it must be settled in the regular assembly. For we are in danger of being charged with rioting for today's assembly, as there is not a single reason we can give for it." With these words he dismissed the assembly. When the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them. Then he bade them goodbye and started off for Macedonia. He passed through those districts and by continuing to talk to them encouraged the people. He then went on to Greece where he stayed three months. Just as he was about to sail for Syria, he changed his mind and returned by way of Macedonia, because a plot against him had been laid by the Jews. He had as companions Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. They went on to Troas and waited there for us, while we, after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, sailed from Philippi, and five days after joined them at Troas, where we spent a week. On the first day of the week when we had met to break bread, Paul addressed them, since he was leaving the next day, and prolonged his speech till midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we met, and a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting by the window, was gradually overcome by heavy drowsiness, as Paul kept speaking longer and longer, and at last he went fast asleep and fell from the third story to the ground and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell on him and embraced him, and said, "Stop being alarmed, his life is still in him." So he went back upstairs, and broke the bread and ate with them, and after talking with them extendedly, even till daylight, he left them. Then they took the boy home alive, and were greatly comforted. We had already gone on board the ship and set sail for Assos, where we were to take Paul on board; for it had been so arranged by him, as he intended to travel there on foot. So when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and sailed on to Mitylene. On the next day we sailed from there and arrived off Chios. On the next day we crossed to Samos, and the next we reached Miletus. For Paul's plan was to sail past Ephesus, so as not to lose any time in the province of Asia; for he was eager, if possible, to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived among you all the time from the day I first set foot in the province of Asia, and how I continued to serve the Lord with all humility and in tears, through the trials that befell me because of the plots of the Jews. I never shrank from telling you anything that was for your good, nor from teaching you in public and in private, but constantly and earnestly I urged Greeks as well as Jews to turn with repentance to God and to have faith in our Lord Jesus. And I am here now on my way to Jerusalem, because I am impelled by the Spirit to do so, though I am not aware what will befall me there, except that in town after town the Holy Spirit emphatically assures me that imprisonment and sufferings are awaiting me. But now I count as nothing the sacrifice of my life, if only I can finish my race and render the service entrusted to me by the Lord Jesus, of faithfully telling the good news of God's favor. And now I know that none of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will ever see my face again. I therefore protest to you today that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I never shrank from telling you God's whole plan. Take care of yourselves and of the whole flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, so as to continue to be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. Because I know that after I have gone violent wolves will break in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will appear who will try, by speaking perversions of truth, to draw away the disciples after them. So ever be on your guard and always remember that for three years, night and day, I never ceased warning you one by one, and that with tears. And now I commit you to the Lord, and to the message of His favor, which is able to build you up and to give you your proper possession among all God's consecrated people. I have never coveted any man's silver or gold or clothes. You know yourselves that these hands of mine provided for my own needs and for my companions. In everything I showed you that by working hard like this we must help those who are weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It makes one happier to give than to get.'" After he had finished this speech, he fell on his knees with them all and prayed. There was loud weeping by them all, as they threw their arms around Paul's neck and kept on kissing him with affection, (44:37) because they were especially pained at his saying that they would never see his face again. Then they went down to the ship with him. When we had torn ourselves away from them, we struck a bee line for Cos, and the next day on to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. There we found a ship bound for Phoenicia, and so we went aboard and sailed away. After sighting Cyprus and leaving it on our left, we sailed on for Syria, and put in at Tyre, for the ship was to unload her cargo there. So we looked up the disciples there and stayed a week with them. Because of impressions made by the Spirit they kept on warning Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem. But when our time was up, we left there and went on, and all of them with their wives and children accompanied us out of town. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed; there we bade one another goodbye, and we went aboard the ship, while they went back. On finishing the sail from Tyre we landed at Ptolemais. Here we greeted the brothers and spent a day with them. The next day we left there and went on to Caesarea, where we went to the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who were prophetesses. While we were spending some days here, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to see us and took Paul's belt and with it bound his own hands and feet, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says, 'The Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt like this, and then will turn him over to the heathen.'" When we heard this, we and all the people there begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by crying and breaking my heart? Why, I am ready not only to be bound at Jerusalem but to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus." So, since he would not yield to our appeal, we stopped begging him, and said, "The Lord's will be done!" After this we got ready and started up to Jerusalem.