Acts 19:23-29

23Soon after that, there was bad trouble in Ephesus. Some people began to speak strongly against the Way of the Lord Jesus.

24In Ephesus there was a man called Demetrius. He used silver to make beautiful things. He made models that looked like the temple of Artemis. He paid a lot of money to people who did this work for him.

25So he told all his workers to meet with him. He also asked other workers to come, who did the same kind of work. He said to all these men, ‘Men, you know that our work has caused us to become rich.

26Also, you can see what this man Paul is doing. You have heard his message. Many people here in Ephesus, and in nearly all the places in Asia region, believe what he says. Paul teaches people this: “Anything that men have made is not really a god.”

27If people continue to believe Paul's message, it will be very bad for us. People will say bad things against our work. The house of our god Artemis will not be important any more. People will even think that Artemis herself is not a great god. As it is now, people in all of Asia region and everywhere else worship her. We do not want that to change.’

28When the workers heard Demetrius, they became very angry. They all shouted, ‘Our god Artemis of Ephesus is very great!’

29More and more people in the whole city began to shout. There was trouble everywhere. Gaius and Aristarchus had been travelling with Paul. They had come with him from Macedonia. Some people from the crowd took hold of Gaius and Aristarchus. They pulled them quickly to the big public meeting place in the middle of the city.