27. There is a danger that our business will lose its good name. But there is also another danger: People will begin to think that the temple of the great goddess Artemis is not important! Her greatness will be destroyed. And Artemis is the goddess that everyone in Asia and the whole world worships.”
28. When the men heard this, they became very angry. They shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
29. The whole city became confused. The people grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus. (These two men were from Macedonia and were traveling with Paul.) Then all the people ran to the theater.
30. Paul wanted to go in and talk to the crowd, but the followers did not let him.
31. Also, some leaders of Asia were friends of Paul. They sent him a message, begging him not to go into the theater.
32. Some people were shouting one thing, and some were shouting another. The meeting was completely confused. Most of the people did not know why they had come together.
33. The Jews put a man named Alexander in front of the people. Some of them had told him what to do. Alexander waved his hand because he wanted to explain things to the people.