Acts 19:37

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess.

King James Version (1611)
For ye haue brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of Churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddesse:

King James Version
For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.

English Standard Version
For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.

New American Standard Bible
"For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

New Century Version
You brought these men here, but they have not said anything evil against our goddess or stolen anything from her temple.

Amplified Bible
"For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

Legacy Standard Bible
For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

Berean Standard Bible
For you have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed our temple nor blasphemed our goddess.

Contemporary English Version
You have brought men in here who have not robbed temples or spoken against our goddess.

Complete Jewish Bible
For you have brought these men here who have neither robbed the temple nor insulted your goddess.

Darby Translation
For ye have brought these men, [who are] neither temple-plunderers, nor speak injuriously of your goddess.

Easy-to-Read Version
"You brought these men here, but they have not said anything bad against our goddess. They have not stolen anything from her temple.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For yee haue brought hither these men, which haue neither committed sacrilege, neither doe blaspheme your goddesse.

George Lamsa Translation
For you have brought these men here who have neither robbed temples nor have they reviled our goddess.

Good News Translation
You have brought these men here even though they have not robbed temples or said evil things about our goddess.

Lexham English Bible
For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

Literal Translation
For you brought these men, being neither temple robbers nor blaspheming your goddess.

American Standard Version
For ye have brought hither these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

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

Hebrew Names Version
For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess.

International Standard Version
For you have brought these men here, although they neither rob temples nor blaspheme ouryour">[fn] goddess.

Etheridge Translation
Yet have you brought these men who have neither spoiled temples nor blasphemed our goddess.

Murdock Translation
For ye have brought forward these men, when they have robbed no temples, and have not reviled our goddess.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For ye haue brought hyther these men, which are neither robbers of Churches nor yet despisers of your goddesse.

English Revised Version
For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

World English Bible
For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For ye have brought these men, who are neither robbers of temples, nor blasphemers of your goddess.

Weymouth's New Testament
For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
for ye han brouyt these men, nethir sacrilegeris, nethir blasfemynge youre goddesse.

Update Bible Version
For you have brought [here] these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

Webster's Bible Translation
For ye have brought hither these men, who are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.

New English Translation
For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

New King James Version
For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your [fn] goddess.

New Living Translation
You have brought these men here, but they have stolen nothing from the temple and have not spoken against our goddess.

New Life Bible
The men you brought here do not rob houses of worship or talk against our god.

New Revised Standard
You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For ye have brought these men, neither as temple-robbers, nor as defaming our goddess.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For you have brought hither these men, who are neither guilty of sacrilege nor of blasphemy against your goddess.

Revised Standard Version
For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For ye have brought hyther these me whiche are nether robbers of churches nor yet despisers of youre goddes.

Young's Literal Translation
`For ye brought these men, who are neither temple-robbers nor speaking evil of your goddess;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Ye haue broughte hither these men, which are nether churchrobbers ner blasphemers off youre goddesse.

Mace New Testament (1729)
for the men you have brought here, have neither plunder'd your temples, nor inveigh'd against your goddess.

Simplified Cowboy Version
These boys you brought in have not stolen, damaged, or spoke against Artemis."

Contextual Overview

²¹After all this had come to a head, Paul decided it was time to move on to Macedonia and Achaia provinces, and from there to Jerusalem. "Then," he said, "I'm off to Rome. I've got to see Rome!" He sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, on to Macedonia and then stayed for a while and wrapped things up in Asia. ²³But before he got away, a huge ruckus occurred over what was now being referred to as "the Way." A certain silversmith, Demetrius, conducted a brisk trade in the manufacture of shrines to the goddess Artemis, employing a number of artisans in his business. He rounded up his workers and others similarly employed and said, "Men, you well know that we have a good thing going here—and you've seen how Paul has barged in and discredited what we're doing by telling people that there's no such thing as a god made with hands. A lot of people are going along with him, not only here in Ephesus but all through Asia province. ²⁷ "Not only is our little business in danger of falling apart, but the temple of our famous goddess Artemis will certainly end up a pile of rubble as her glorious reputation fades to nothing. And this is no mere local matter—the whole world worships our Artemis!" ²⁸That 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!" ³²Some were yelling one thing, some another. Most of them had no idea what was going on or why they were there. As the Jews pushed Alexander to the front to try to gain control, different factions clamored to get him on their side. But he brushed them off and quieted the mob with an impressive sweep of his arms. But the moment he opened his mouth and they knew he was a Jew, they shouted him down: "Great Artemis of the Ephesians! Great Artemis of the Ephesians!"—on and on and on, for over two hours. ³⁵Finally, the town clerk got the mob quieted down and said, "Fellow citizens, is there anyone anywhere who doesn't know that our dear city Ephesus is protector of glorious Artemis and her sacred stone image that fell straight out of heaven? Since this is beyond contradiction, you had better get hold of yourselves. This is conduct unworthy of Artemis. These men you've dragged in here have done nothing to harm either our temple or our goddess. ³⁸"So if Demetrius and his guild of artisans have a complaint, they can take it to court and make all the accusations they want. If anything else is bothering you, bring it to the regularly scheduled town meeting and let it be settled there. There is no excuse for what's happened today. We're putting our city in serious danger. Rome, remember, does not look kindly on rioters." With that, he sent them home.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

which: Acts 25:8, 1 Corinthians 10:32, 2 Corinthians 6:3

Reciprocal: Acts 24:6 - gone

Cross-References

Genesis 19:1
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting at the city gate. He saw them and got up to welcome them, bowing before them and said, "Please, my friends, come to my house and stay the night. Wash up. You can rise early and be on your way refreshed." They said, "No, we'll sleep in the street."

Genesis 19:18
But Lot protested, "No, masters, you can't mean it! I know that you've taken a liking to me and have done me an immense favor in saving my life, but I can't run for the mountains—who knows what terrible thing might happen to me in the mountains and leave me for dead. Look over there—that town is close enough to get to. It's a small town, hardly anything to it. Let me escape there and save my life—it's a mere wide place in the road."

Genesis 19:27
Abraham got up early the next morning and went to the place he had so recently stood with God . He looked out over Sodom and Gomorrah, surveying the whole plain. All he could see was smoke belching from the Earth, like smoke from a furnace.

Genesis 19:31
One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is getting old and there's not a man left in the country by whom we can get pregnant. Let's get our father drunk with wine and lie with him. We'll get children through our father—it's our only chance to keep our family alive."

Deuteronomy 2:9
God told me, "And don't try to pick a fight with the Moabites. I am not giving you any of their land. I've given ownership of Ar to the People of Lot."

Deuteronomy 23:3
No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the congregation of God , even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children, ever. Those nations didn't treat you with hospitality on your travels out of Egypt, and on top of that they also hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you. God , your God, refused to listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing—how God , your God, loves you! Don't even try to get along with them or do anything for them, ever.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For ye have brought hither these men,.... The Arabic version reads, "these two men"; that is, Gaius and Aristarchus, whom they had brought by force into the theatre to fight with wild beasts:

which are neither robbers of churches; or "temples"; or, as the Arabic version renders it, "robbers of the vessels of the temple", sacrilegious persons; they have not stolen anything out of the temple of Diana, nor any other:

nor yet blasphemers of your goddess; they have not made mention of her name, much less said anything against her, at least this officer did not know that they had; and if he had, he did not stick to tell an officious lie to screen them, as did the Egyptian midwives in favour of the Hebrew women.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For ye ... - Demetrius and his friends. The blame was to be traced to them.

Which are neither robbers of churches - The word “churches” we now apply to edifices reared for purposes of Christian worship. Since no such churches had then been built, this translation is unhappy, and is not at all demanded by the original. The Greek word ἱεροσύλους hierosulous is applied properly to those who commit sacrilege; who plunder temples of their sacred things. The meaning here is that Paul and his companions had not been guilty of robbing the temple of Diana, or any other temple. The charge of sacrilege could not be brought against them. Though they had preached against idols and idol worship, yet they had offered no violence to the temples of idolaters, nor had they attempted to strip them of the sacred utensils employed in their service. What they had done, they had done peaceably.

Nor yet blasphemers of your goddess - They had not used harsh or reproachful language of Diana. This had not been charged on them, nor is there the least evidence that they had done it. They had opposed idolatry; had reasoned against it; and had endeavored to turn the people from it. But there is not the least evidence that they had ever done it in harsh or reproachful language. This shows that people should employ reason, and not harsh or reproachful language against a pervading evil; and that the way to remove it is to enlighten the minds of people, and to convince them of the error of their ways. People gain nothing by bitter and reviling words; and it is much to obtain the testimony of even the enemies of religion as Paul did of the chancellor of Ephesus - that no such words had been used in describing their crimes and follies.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 37. These men - are neither robbers of churches — ιρεσυλους; Spoilers of sacred places. As his design evidently was to appease and conciliate the people, he fixed first on a most incontrovertible fact: These men have not spoiled your temples; nor is there any evidence that they have even blasphemed your goddess. The apostles acted as prudent men should: they endeavoured to enlighten the minds of the multitude, that the absurdity of their gross errors might be the more apparent; for, when they should know the truth, it was likely that they would at once abandon such gross falsehood.