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.
34. But when they saw that Alexander was a Jew, they all began shouting the same thing. They continued shouting for two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35. Then the city clerk made the crowd be quiet. He said, “Men of Ephesus, everyone knows that Ephesus is the city that keeps the temple of the great goddess Artemis. All people know that we also keep her holy stone that fell from heaven.
36. No one can say that this is not true. So you should be quiet. You must stop and think before you do anything.
37. You brought these men here, but they have not said anything evil against our goddess. They have not stolen anything from her temple.