16. Then the man, who had the evil spirit in him, jumped on these Jews. He was much stronger than all of them. He beat them and tore their clothes off, so they ran away from the house.
17. All the people in Ephesus, Jews and Greeks, learned about this. They were filled with fear. And the people gave great honor to the Lord Jesus.
18. Many of the believers began to confess openly and tell all the evil things they had done.
19. Some of them had used magic. These believers brought their magic books and burned them before everyone. Those books were worth about 50,000 silver coins.
20. So in a powerful way the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing.
21. After these things, Paul made plans to go to Jerusalem. He planned to go through the countries of Macedonia and Southern Greece, and then on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have been to Jerusalem, I must also visit Rome.”
22. Paul sent Timothy and Erastus, two of his helpers, ahead to Macedonia. He himself stayed in Asia for a while.
23. But during that time, there was some serious trouble in Ephesus about the Way of Jesus.
24. There was a man named Demetrius, who worked with silver. He made little silver models that looked like the temple of the goddess Artemis. The men who did this work made much money.