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Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Legacy Standard Bible

Acts 19:28

When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Demetrius;   Diana;   Paul;   Scofield Reference Index - Holy Spirit;   Thompson Chain Reference - Business Life;   Capital and Labour;   Diana;   False;   Gods, False;   Idolatry;   Images;   Labour Unions;   Man;   Man's;   Worship, False;   Worship, True and False;   Wrath;   Wrath-Anger;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Idolatry;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Diana;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Aristarchus;   Ephesus;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Gods and Goddesses, Pagan;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Ordination;   Relics;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Diana;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Corinth;   Paul;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Acts;   Art and Aesthetics;   Artemis;   Demetrius;   Ephesus;   Gods, Pagan;   Masons;   Silversmith;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Anger;   Bible;   Corinthians, Second Epistle to;   Romans, Epistle to the;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Name ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Artemis ;   Diana ;   Ephesians ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Diana;   Ephesians;   Ephesus;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Saul of Tarsus;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ephesian;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
King James Version (1611)
And when they heard these sayings, they were ful of wrath, & cried out, saying, Great is Diana of ye Ephesians.
King James Version
And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
English Standard Version
When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
New American Standard Bible
When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began shouting, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
New Century Version
When the others heard this, they became very angry and shouted, "Artemis, the goddess of Ephesus, is great!"
Amplified Bible
When they heard this, they were filled with rage, and they began shouting, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
Berean Standard Bible
When the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
Contemporary English Version
When the workers heard this, they got angry and started shouting, "Great is Artemis, the goddess of the Ephesians!"
Complete Jewish Bible
Hearing this, they were filled with rage and began bellowing, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
Darby Translation
And having heard [this], and being filled with rage, they cried out, saying, Great [is] Artemis of the Ephesians.
Easy-to-Read Version
When the men heard this, they became very angry. They shouted, "Great is Artemis, the goddess of Ephesus!"
Geneva Bible (1587)
Now when they heard it, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
George Lamsa Translation
And when they heard these things they were filled with wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Ar''te-mis of the E-phe''si-ans.
Good News Translation
As the crowd heard these words, they became furious and started shouting, "Great is Artemis of Ephesus!"
Lexham English Bible
And when they heard this and became full of rage, they began to shout, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
Literal Translation
And having heard, and having become full of anger, they cried out, saying, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
American Standard Version
And when they heard this they were filled with wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Bible in Basic English
And hearing this, they were very angry, crying out and saying, Great is Diana of Ephesus.
Hebrew Names Version
When they heard this they were filled with anger, and cried out, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
International Standard Version
When they heard this, they became furious and began to shout, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
Etheridge Translation
And when they heard these (words) they were filled with wrath; and they cried, and said, Great is Artemis of the Ephesoyee.
Murdock Translation
And when they heard these things they were filled with wrath; and they cried out, and said: Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And when they hearde these sayinges, they were full of wrath, and cryed out, saying: great is Diana of ye Ephesians.
English Revised Version
And when they heard this, they were filled with wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
World English Bible
When they heard this they were filled with anger, and cried out, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And hearing this, they were filled with rage, and cried out, saying, The great Diana of the Ephesians.
Weymouth's New Testament
After listening to this harangue, they became furiously angry and kept calling out, "Great is the Ephesian Diana!"
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whanne these thingis weren herd, thei weren fillid with ire, and crieden, and seiden, Greet is the Dian of Effesians.
Update Bible Version
And when they heard this they were filled with wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Artemis of the Ephesus.
Webster's Bible Translation
And when they heard [these sayings], they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great [is] Diana of the Ephesians.
New English Translation
When they heard this they became enraged and began to shout, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
New King James Version
Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!"
New Living Translation
At this their anger boiled, and they began shouting, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
New Life Bible
They became angry when they heard this and cried out, "Great is Diana of Ephesus."
New Revised Standard
When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Now, hearing this, and becoming full of wrath, they began crying aloud, saying - Great, is Diana of the Ephesians!
Douay-Rheims Bible
Having heard these things, they were full of anger and cried out, saying: Great is Diana of the Ephesians!
Revised Standard Version
When they heard this they were enraged, and cried out, "Great is Ar'temis of the Ephesians!"
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
When they hearde these sayinges they were full of wrathe and cryed out saying: Greate is Diana of the Ephesians.
Young's Literal Translation
And they having heard, and having become full of wrath, were crying out, saying, `Great [is] the Artemis of the Ephesians!'
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Whan they herde this, they were full of wrath, cried out, and sayde: Greate is Diana of the Ephesians.
Mace New Testament (1729)
at these words, they were fir'd with indignation, and cry'd out, "great is Diana of the Ephesians."
THE MESSAGE
That set them off in a frenzy. They ran into the street yelling, "Great Artemis of the Ephesians! Great Artemis of the Ephesians!" They put the whole city in an uproar, stampeding into the stadium, and grabbing two of Paul's associates on the way, the Macedonians Gaius and Aristarchus. Paul wanted to go in, too, but the disciples wouldn't let him. Prominent religious leaders in the city who had become friendly to Paul concurred: "By no means go near that mob!"
Simplified Cowboy Version
Now, this really got 'em riled up. They all began chanting, "Artemis! Artemis! Artemis!"

Contextual Overview

21Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome." 22And having sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. 23Now about that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way. 24For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen; 25these he gathered together with the workers of similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity is from this business. 26And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable crowd, saying that things made with hands are not gods. 27And not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be considered as worthless and that she, whom all of Asia and the world worship, is even about to be brought down from her majesty." 28When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" 29And the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia. 30And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they: Acts 7:54, Acts 16:19-24, Acts 21:28-31, Psalms 2:2, Revelation 12:12

and cried: Acts 19:34, Acts 19:35, 1 Samuel 5:3-5, 1 Kings 18:26-29, Isaiah 41:5-7, Jeremiah 50:38, Revelation 13:4, Revelation 17:13

Reciprocal: Psalms 2:1 - rage Psalms 83:2 - lo Acts 16:22 - the multitude Acts 19:24 - Diana Acts 23:10 - fearing Acts 26:17 - Delivering Ephesians 4:31 - clamour

Cross-References

Genesis 19:10
But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.
Genesis 19:11
And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from small to great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.
Psalms 107:34
A fruitful land into a salt waste,Because of the evil of those who inhabited it.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when they heard these sayings,.... Both the masters and the workmen;

they were full of wrath; against Paul and his doctrine:

and cried out, saying, great is Diana of the Ephesians; this goddess is frequently called in Heathen writers, Diana of the Ephesians, or the Ephesian Diana, because of her famous temple at Ephesus; and to distinguish her from all other Dianas: Pausanias makes mention of sixty Dianas at least, and yet seems not to have taken notice of them all; all of them had different epithets, by which they were distinguished from one another; the images were in different shapes, and they were worshipped with different rites: what seems most of all to distinguish the Ephesian Diana from others, is her having many paps; hence she is called, "multi mammia"; so Minutius Felix observes t, that Diana is sometimes girt about on high as an huntress, and the Ephesian Diana is "mammis multis uberibus extructa" Just as the Isis of the Egyptians, which, Macrobius u says, signifies the earth; hence the whole body of the deity is covered with paps, because the whole universe is nourished by it: the priest of Diana of the Ephesians was an eunuch, and was obliged to abstain from all company; neither bathed, nor ate, nor drank with others, nor might he enter into the house of a private person; there was a feast kept every year in honour of her, at which young men in the flower of their age, and virgins well dressed, used to go to the temple in great pomp, keep the feast, and marry with each other. The temple was a sort of an asylum, as Heathen temples commonly were; and it had this particular privilege, that those that fled to it were freed from servitude w. This goddess is called "great", agreeably to her name, for, דינא, "Diana", signifies "great" and venerable; because of her birth, being the daughter of Jupiter; and because of her great service, she was supposed to be of in assisting at births; and because of her magnificent temple and worship; and because she was worshipped by great persons: and here greatness is ascribed unto her, and a loud cry made of it, to animate one another, to gather a mob together, and to incense them and stir them up against the apostle and his companion: in the Arabic version, instead of Diana, it is Venus, both here and elsewhere, but wrongly.

t In Octavia, p. 22. u Saturnal. l. 1. c. 20. w Pausauias in Arcadicis, sive, l. 8. p. 476. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 20. & l. 6. c. 2. & c. 12.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Were full of wrath - Were greatly enraged - probably at the prospect of losing their gains.

Great is Diana ... - The term “great” was often applied by the Greeks to Diana. Thus, in Xenophon (Ephes. i.), he says, “I adjure you by your own goddess, the great (τὴν μεγάλην tēn megalēn) Diana of the Ephesians.” The design of this clamor was doubtless to produce a persecution against Paul, and thus to secure a continuance of their employment. Often, when people have no arguments, they raise a clamor; when their employments are in danger of being ruined, they are filled with rage. We may learn, also, that when people’s pecuniary interests are affected, they often show great zeal for religion, and expect by clamor in behalf of some doctrine to maintain their own interest, and to secure their own gains.


 
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