You see and hear that not at Ephesus alone, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods that are made with hands.
Parallel Translations
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You see and hear that not at Ephesus alone, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods that are made with hands.
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Moreover ye se and heare that not alone at Ephesus but almost thorowe oute all Asia this Paul hath persuaded and turned awaye moche people saying that they be not goddes which are made with hondes.
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Moreouer ye see and heare, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia this Paul hath perswaded, and turned away much people, saying, That they be not gods which are made with handes.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Acts 19:26 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 17:29 Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
- 1 Corinthians 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
- Isaiah 44:10-20 Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together. The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house. He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it. Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it, and warms himself. Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself, and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.” The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me; for you are my god!” They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand. No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?” He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”
- Deuteronomy 4:28 There you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
- Acts 14:15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them;
- Acts 19:10 This continued for two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
- Revelation 9:20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn’t repent of the works of their hands, that they wouldn’t worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can’t see, hear, or walk.
- Jeremiah 10:11 “You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’ ”
- Jeremiah 10:14-15 Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.
- 1 Corinthians 10:19-20 What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have fellowship with demons.
- 1 Corinthians 12:2 You know that when you were heathen, you were led away to those mute idols, however you might be led.
- 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
- Galatians 4:8 However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,
- Psalms 115:4-8 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear. They have noses, but they don’t smell. They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat. Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.
- Psalms 135:15-18 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see. They have ears, but they can’t hear, neither is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them.
- Isaiah 46:5-8 “To whom will you compare me, and consider my equal, and compare me, as if we were the same? Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down— yes, they worship. They bear it on their shoulder. They carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands there. It cannot move from its place. Yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer. It cannot save him out of his trouble. “Remember this, and show yourselves men. Bring it to mind again, you transgressors.
- Jeremiah 10:3-6 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move. They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” There is no one like you, Yahweh. You are great, and your name is great in might.
- Hosea 8:6 For this is even from Israel! The workman made it, and it is no God; indeed, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
- Acts 18:19 He came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.
- Acts 19:18-20 Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds. Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted their price, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing and becoming mighty.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone…
26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
Ver. 26. They be no gods] The town clerk then told a loud lie, Act 19:5. Politicians think they may lawfully lie for peace sake. Howbeit Paul decried Diana’s temple and worship with better discretion than Abdias the bishop burnt down the temple of the fire (which the Persians worship) at Persepolis. Whereupon not only he himself was slain, but all the temples of the Christians throughout Persia were overthrown, and many Christians put to death; the Persian priests being their chief persecutors, A. D. 413. (Funccius.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He tells them indeed what was St. Paul’s doctrine;…
He tells them indeed what was St. Paul’s doctrine; but he conceals the reasons of his doctrine; for there can be nothing more evident to any considering man, than that there is but one God who made all things; as Psa 115:3,4; Jer 10:10.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And when Paul would have entered in unto the…
And when Paul would have entered in unto the people,.... In the theatre, in order to have preached to the people, and to have removed their prejudices against him, and the Gospel preached by him, and to have shown them the error and evil of their idolatrous ways and worship, and to have reconciled them to him, and his friends, and to have persuaded them to do them no hurt; which shows the apostle's greatness of soul, his firmness, constancy, and intrepidity, and his great concern and affection for his companions, to risk his life in this manner: but
the disciples suffered him not; the believers, the members of the church at Ephesus would by no means agree to it, but dissuaded him from it; who hereby, on their part, showed great love to him, and what a value they had for him, and how much they esteemed the life of so great an apostle, and faithful preacher of the Gospel. The Ethiopic version renders it, "the apostles prohibited him"; but there were none of that office with him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Saying, that they are not gods which are made…
Saying, that they are not gods which are made with hands - This manifestly shows, that the contrary opinion did then generally prevail, namely, that there was a real Divinity in their sacred images. Though some of the later heathens spoke of them just as the Romanists do now.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 26. This Paul hath persuaded and turned away…
Verse 26. This Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people] Prom the mouth of this heathen we have, in one sentence, a most pleasing account of the success with which God had blessed the labours of the apostles: not only at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, they had persuaded and converted much people; for they had insisted that they could be no gods which are made with hands; and this the common sense of the people must at once perceive.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Ye see and hear - You see at Ephesus,…
Ye see and hear - You see at Ephesus, and you hear the same in other places.
Throughout all Asia - All Asia Minor; or perhaps the province of which Ephesus was the capital. See the notes on Act 2:9.
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This Paul hath persuaded - We have here the noble testimony of a pagan to the zeal and success of the ministry of Paul. It is an acknowledgment that his labors had been most strikingly successful in turning the people from idolatry.
Saying that they be no gods ... - See the notes on Act 14:14-15.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain ye see and hear--The evidences of it were to…
ye see and hear--The evidences of it were to be seen, and the report of it was in everybody's mouth.
that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath . . . turned away much people--Noble testimony this to the extent of Paul's influence!
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saying that they be no gods which are made with hands--The universal belief of the people was that they were gods, though the more intelligent regarded them only as habitations of Deity, and some, probably, as mere aids to devotion. It is exactly so in the Church of Rome.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 26. Not… Ephesus… all Asia—Demetrius doubtless exaggerates: but there…
26. Not… Ephesus… all Asia—Demetrius doubtless exaggerates: but there is truth enough left after all deductions to impress us with the powerful and broad success of Paul’s assaults. He and his ministers confine themselves not to the hall of Tyrannus, but circuit into adjacent country and city. Dissatisfaction is prevailing through this intellectual region of Ionian Greeks, with their past systems, and the soul is hungry for higher and more cheering truth. How dear to many a heart must have come the welcome message of life and immortality of the incarnate Son of God!
No gods… made with hands—But did the pagan really hold the image to be not solely the representative and reminder of the god, but the actual god himself? No doubt, we reply, there were enlightened minds of antiquity who affirmed not only that the image was not the god, but that no image could ever represent the Divine. Passages so affirming can be quoted from different philosophers. But then it is equally true that pages of passages could be quoted identifying the god with the image. Image-makers were called θεοποιοι and θεοπλασται, god-makers and god-moulders. And Plutarch says that the Greeks were “Neither taught nor accustomed to call brazen, sculptured, or stone figures images or honours of the gods, but gods themselves.” The converted philosopher, Arnobius, assures us of himself, when a pagan, “If ever I saw a lubricated stone, being smeared with olive-oil, I addressed it with adulation, as if a present power dwelt within it, and begged the benefactions of the senseless block.” After Christianity spread its influence, however, paganism itself grew more reflective and more careful of its language.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 26. Moreover ye see and hear] Better, And ye,…
26. Moreover ye see and hear] Better, And ye, &c. They were eyewitnesses of what had taken place in Ephesus, and the falling-off in the demand would be made known from all the country round, for the preaching and preachers spread far and wide.
that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia] Beside Ephesus itself we have only notices through St Paul’s writings of churches founded at Colossæ, Laodicæa and Hierapolis. But in the Apocalypse we find beside these, Pergamus, Smyrna, Thyatira, Sardis and Philadelphia, places whose position shews us that through about two-thirds of the coastline of Asia important centres of Christian life were formed before that book was written, and we cannot doubt that from St Paul and his fellow-workers the Gospel was preached in all that district. Hence the alarm of Demetrius.
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this Paul] If we think of the bodily presence of St Paul which he himself always describes as insignificant, and which would be familiar to the hearers of Demetrius, we can fancy the scorn which would be thrown into the words as they fell from angry lips.
hath persuaded and turned away, &c.] From their devotion to Artemis, and so from the purchase of shrines.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (26) Not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all…
(26) Not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia.—The language of Demetrius, though, perhaps, betraying the exaggeration of alarm, confirms the statement of Act_19:10 as to the extent of St. Paul’s labours. Pliny, in his Epistle to Trajan (Epp. x. 96), uses language, half a century later, which is hardly less strong, speaking of “deserted temples,” “worship neglected,” “hardly a single purchaser” (rarissimus emptor) found for sacrificial victims.
Saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands.—The wrath of the mob-leader makes him virtually commit himself to the opposite statement that the idol is the god. Philosophers might speak of symbolism and ideal representations, but this was, and always has been, and will be, the conclusion of popular idolatry.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And for moreover, A.V. We have here a wonderful…
And for moreover, A.V. We have here a wonderful testimony from an enemy to the power and efficacy of St. Paul"s labors. Asia, here and in ver. 22, etc., means Proconsular Asia, of which Ephesus was the chief city. That they be no gods, etc. This is an incidental proof that St. Paul"s success at Ephesus lay chiefly among the heathen, since we know Act_14:15-17 Act_17:23, Act_17:24, etc., that this was exactly his style of preaching to Gentiles, quite different from his method with Jews.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes on verse 23
See notes on verse 23
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Demetrius continues to speak to the craftsmen.
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You see and hear that
"You have come to know and understand that"
turned away many people
Paul's stopping people from worshiping idols is spoken of as though Paul were literally turning the people in a different direction. AT: "caused many people to stop worshiping the local gods" (See: Metaphor)
He is saying that there are no gods that are made with hands
Here the word "hands" can refer to the whole person. AT: "He is saying that the idols that people make are not real gods" (See: Ellipsis and Synecdoche)
that our trade will no longer be needed
This can be stated in active form. AT: "that the people will no longer want to buy idols from us" (See: Active or Passive)
the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be considered worthless
This can be stated in active form. AT: "the people will think there is no benefit in going to the temple to worship the great goddess Artemis" (See: Active or Passive)
she would even lose her greatness
Artemis's greatness only comes from what people think of her.
whom all Asia and the world worships
This was an exaggeration to show how popular the goddess Artemis was. Here the words "Asia" and "the world" refer to the people in Asia and the known world. AT: "whom many people in Asia and in other parts of the world worship" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization and Metonymy)
translationWords
Ephesus
Asia
turn
false god
temple
worthy
world
worship
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.