Daily Bread

Paul in Ephesus

19 While Apollos^(A) was at Corinth,^(B) Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus.^(C) There he found some disciples ² and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit^(D) when^[a] you believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³ So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

⁴ Paul said, “John’s baptism^(E) was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”^{(F) 5} On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.^{(G) 6} When Paul placed his hands on them,^(H) the Holy Spirit came on them,^(I) and they spoke in tongues^[b](J) and prophesied. ⁷ There were about twelve men in all.

⁸ Paul entered the synagogue^(K) and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.^{(L) 9} But some of them^(M) became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way.^(N) So Paul left them. He took the disciples^(O) with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ This went on for two years,^(P) so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia^(Q) heard the word of the Lord.^(R)

¹¹ God did extraordinary miracles^(S) through Paul, ¹² so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured^(T) and the evil spirits left them.

¹³ Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits^(U) tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus^(V) whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. ¹⁵ One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” ¹⁶ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

¹⁷ When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus,^(W) they were all seized with fear,^(X) and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. ¹⁸ Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. ¹⁹ A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.^{[c] 20} In this way the word of the Lord^(Y) spread widely and grew in power.^(Z)