The Riot at Ephesus

“So the word of the Lord powerfully continued to spread and prevail.” — Acts 19:20

Paul came back to Ephesus, and he stayed there for more than two years. Ephesus was a huge city, and it was famous for its enormous temple to a goddess called Artemis.

God did amazing miracles through Paul in Ephesus. And many people turned to Jesus. Some of them had practised magic. They brought their magic books and burned them in front of everyone. The books were worth fifty thousand silver coins! But they didn’t want them any more, now that they followed Jesus.

So the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing stronger.

But not everyone was happy.

There was a silversmith called Demetrius, who made little silver models of the temple of Artemis. People bought them, and he made a lot of money.

Demetrius called together all the other craftsmen who made things like that. “Men,” he said, “you know we make good money from this business. But this man Paul has persuaded lots of people, here in Ephesus and all over the province, that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. Soon nobody will buy what we make! And people might even stop respecting the great goddess Artemis!”

When the craftsmen heard this, they were furious. They started shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The crowd grabbed two of Paul’s travelling friends and rushed into the huge open-air theatre. Paul wanted to go in and speak to the crowd, but his friends wouldn’t let him. It was too dangerous.

Inside the theatre, everyone was shouting. Some were shouting one thing and some another. Most of the people didn’t even know why they were there!

For about two hours, the crowd shouted over and over again, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

At last the city clerk, an important official, managed to quieten the crowd. “People of Ephesus,” he said, “these men haven’t robbed any temples or said anything against our goddess. If Demetrius has a complaint, there are proper courts for that. We could get into serious trouble for this riot today!” And he sent the crowd home.

When the uproar was over, Paul gathered the believers, encouraged them, said goodbye, and set off on his travels again.

Demetrius was really worried about his money. When people come to know Jesus, things change. Sometimes it upsets people who were making money from things that weren’t right.

But a shouting crowd couldn’t stop the good news. It just kept on spreading.

Read it in your Bible: Acts 19:11–20, 23–41

Dear God, thank you that nothing can stop your Word from spreading. Help me to love you more than money or anything else. Amen.