1 Mens Apollos var i Korint, reiste Paulus gjennom det øvre område og kom til Efesos, hvor han møtte noen disipler.

And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having gone through the higher country, came to Ephesus, where there were certain disciples:

2 Han spurte dem: Fikk dere Den hellige ånd da dere kom til troen? De svarte: Nei, vi har ikke engang hørt at det finnes en hellig ånd.

And he said to them, Did you get the Holy Spirit when you had faith? And they said to him, No, we have had no knowledge of the Holy Spirit.

3 Da spurte han: Hvilken dåp ble dere døpt med? De svarte: Johannes' dåp.

And he said, What sort of baptism did you have? And they said, The baptism of John.

4 Paulus sa: Johannes døpte med en dåp til omvendelse og sa til folket at de skulle tro på ham som kom etter ham, det vil si Jesus.

And Paul said, John gave a baptism which goes with a change of heart, saying to the people that they were to have faith in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.

5 Da de hørte dette, lot de seg døpe til Herren Jesu navn.

And hearing this, they had baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 Da Paulus la hendene på dem, kom Den hellige ånd over dem; de talte i tunger og profeterte.

And when Paul had put his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they had the power of talking in tongues, and acting like prophets.

7 Det var omkring tolv menn i alt.

And there were about twelve of these men.

8 Han gikk inn i synagogen, og der talte han frimodig i tre måneder, og diskuterte og underviste om Guds rike.

And he went into the Synagogue, and for three months he was preaching there without fear, reasoning and teaching about the kingdom of God.

9 Men da noen ble forherdet og ikke ville tro, og talte ondt om Veien for folket, forlot han dem. Da tok han med disiplene, og hver dag fortsatte han diskusjonene i Tyrannus' skole.

But because some of the people were hard-hearted and would not give hearing, saying evil words about the Way before the people, he went away from them, and kept the disciples separate, reasoning every day in the school of Tyrannus.

10 Dette fortsatte i to år, slik at alle som bodde i Asia, både jøder og grekere, fikk høre Herrens ord.

And this went on for two years, so that all those who were living in Asia had knowledge of the word of the Lord, Greeks as well as Jews.

11 Gud gjorde ekstraordinære kraftgjerninger ved Paulus' hender.

And God did special works of power by the hands of Paul:

12 Selv tøystykker og kleder som hadde vært på kroppen hans, ble tatt til de syke, og sykdommene forlot dem, og de onde åndene fór ut.

So that bits of linen and clothing from his body were taken to people who were ill, and their diseases went away from them and the evil spirits went out.

13 Noen jødiske reisende åndemanere forsøk å bruke Herren Jesu navn over for dem som hadde onde ånder, og sa: Jeg befaler deg ved Jesus, som Paulus forkynner.

But some of the Jews who went from place to place driving out evil spirits, took it on themselves to make use of the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I give you orders, by Jesus, whom Paul is preaching.

14 Det var syv sønner av Skeva, en jødisk overprest, som gjorde dette.

And there were seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jew and a chief priest, who did this.

15 Men den onde ånden svarte dem: Jesus kjenner jeg, og jeg vet om Paulus, men hvem er dere?

And the evil spirit, answering, said to them, I have knowledge of Jesus, and of Paul, but who are you?

16 Mannen med den onde ånden sprang på dem, overmannet dem, og herjet med dem, slik at de flyktet nakne og såret ut av huset.

And the man in whom the evil spirit was, jumping on them, was stronger than the two of them, and overcame them, so that they went running from that house, wounded and without their clothing.

17 Dette ble kjent for alle jøder og grekere som bodde i Efesos, og frykt kom over dem alle. Herrens Jesu navn ble opphøyd.

And this came to the ears of all those, Jews and Greeks, who were living at Ephesus; and fear came on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was made great.

18 Mange av dem som hadde kommet til troen, kom og bekjente åpent sine synder og gjerninger.

And a number of those who had faith came and made a public statement of their sins and all their acts.

19 Mange som drev med trolldom, samlet sine bøker og brant dem offentlig. Verdien av bøkene ble regnet ut til femti tusen sølvstykker.

And a great number of those who were experts in strange arts took their books and put them on the fire in front of everyone: and when the books were valued they came to fifty thousand bits of silver.

20 Slik vokste Herrens ord sterkt og fikk stor kraft.

So the word of the Lord was increased very greatly and was full of power.

21 Da dette var fullført, bestemte Paulus seg for å reise gjennom Makedonia og Akaia til Jerusalem. Han sa: Etter jeg har vært der, må jeg også se Roma.

Now after these things were ended, Paul came to a decision that when he had gone through Macedonia and Achaia he would go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I have a desire to see Rome.

22 Han sendte to av sine hjelpere, Timoteus og Erastus, til Makedonia, mens han selv ble en tid i Asia.

And having sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, he himself went on living in Asia for a time.

23 Rett etter oppsto det stor oppstandelse om Veien.

And about that time a great outcry took place about the Way.

24 En mann ved navn Demetrius, en sølvsmed, laget sølvtempler for Artemis og skaffet ikke liten inntekt til sine håndverkere.

For there was a certain man named Demetrius, a silver-worker, who made silver boxes for the images of Diana, and gave no small profit to the workmen;

25 Demetrius samlet dem og de andre i samme yrke og sa: Kamerater, dere vet at vi har vår velstand fra dette håndverket.

Whom he got together, with other workmen of the same trade, and said to them, Men, it is clear that from this business we get our wealth.

26 Og dere ser og hører at denne Paulus har overtalt og vendt en stor mengde bort, ikke bare i Efesos, men i nesten hele Asia, ved å si at guder som er laget av menneskehender, ikke er guder.

And you see, for it has come to your ears, that not only at Ephesus, but almost all through Asia, this Paul has been teaching numbers of people and turning them away, saying that those are not gods who are made by men's hands:

27 Dette setter vår næring i fare, og ikke bare det; også det store tempelet til Artemis kan bli ansett som uten verdi, og hennes storhet, som hele Asia og verden dyrker, kan bli trukket ned.

And there is danger, not only that our trade may be damaged in the opinion of men, but that the holy place of the great goddess Diana may be no longer honoured, and that she to whom all Asia and the world give worship, will be put down from her high position.

28 Da de hørte dette, ble de fylte med raseri og ropte: Stor er Efesernes Artemis!

And hearing this, they were very angry, crying out and saying, Great is Diana of Ephesus.

29 Hele byen ble fylt av forvirring, og de stormet alle sammen til teatret og tok med seg Gaius og Aristark, Paulus' reisekamerater fra Makedonia.

And the town was full of noise and trouble, and they all came running into the theatre, having taken by force Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia who were journeying in company with Paul.

30 Paulus ville gå inn til folket, men disiplene lot ham ikke.

And when Paul was about to go in to the people, the disciples did not let him.

31 Også noen av Asia-høvdingene, som var hans venner, sendte beskjed til ham og bønnfalt ham om ikke å dra inn i teatret.

And some of the rulers of Asia, being his friends, sent to him, requesting him seriously not to put himself in danger by going into the theatre.

32 Noen ropte ett, andre noe annet, for møtet var i kaos, og de fleste visste ikke engang hvorfor de hadde samlet seg.

And some said one thing, and some another: for there was no order in the meeting; and most of them had no idea why they had come together.

33 Noen i folkemengden fikk Alexander, som jødene presset frem, til å tale. Alexander vinket med hånden og prøvde å gi en forklaring til folket.

Then they took Alexander out from among the people, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander, making a sign with his hand, was about to make a statement to the people in answer:

34 Men da de skjønte at han var jøde, ropte de i kor i omtrent to timer: Stor er Efesernes Artemis!

But when they saw that he was a Jew, all of them with one voice went on crying out for about two hours, Great is Diana of Ephesus.

35 Byens skriver roet folkemengden og sa: Efesere, hvem vet ikke at byen Efesos vokter tempelet til den store Artemis og hennes bilde som falt ned fra himmelen?

And when the chief secretary had got the people quiet, he said, Men of Ephesus, is any man without knowledge that the town of Ephesus is the keeper of the holy place of the great Diana, who was sent down from Jupiter?

36 Siden ingen kan benekte dette, bør dere roe dere ned og ikke gjøre noe overilt.

So then, because these things may not be doubted, it would be better for you to be quiet, and do nothing unwise.

37 Disse mennene dere har ført hit, har verken plyndret tempelet eller spotta vår gudinne.

For you have taken these men, who are not doing damage to the holy place or talking against our goddess.

38 Om Demetrius og håndverkerne hans har noe å klage på mot noen, finnes det rettsmøter og dommere. La dem føre frem saken der.

If, then, Demetrius and the workmen who are with him have a protest to make against any man, the law is open to them, and there are judges; let them put up a cause at law against one another.

39 Men hvis det dreier seg om noe annet, må det løses i et lovlig møte.

But if any other business is in question, let it be taken up in the regular meeting.

40 For nå er vi i fare for å bli stilt til ansvar for dagens opptøyer, da det ikke finnes noen grunn som vi kan gi som forklaring på denne folkemengden.

For, truly, we are in danger of being made responsible for this day's trouble, there being no cause for it: and we are not able to give any reason for this coming together. And when he had said this, he sent the meeting away.

41 Da han hadde sagt dette, oppløste han møtet.

[]