34 But when they saw that Alexander was a Jew, they all began shouting the same thing. They continued shouting for two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35 Then the city clerk made the crowd be quiet. He said, “Men of Ephesus, everyone knows that Ephesus is the city that keeps the temple of the great goddess Artemis. All people know that we also keep her holy stone that fell from heaven.
36 No one can say that this is not true. So you should be quiet. You must stop and think before you do anything.
37 You brought these men here, but they have not said anything evil against our goddess. They have not stolen anything from her temple.
38 We have courts of law, and there are judges. Do Demetrius and the men who work with him have a charge against anyone? They should go to the courts! That is where they can argue with each other!
39 Is there something else you want to talk about? It can be decided at the regular town meeting of the people.
40 I say this because some people might see this trouble today and say that we are rioting. We could not explain this because there is no real reason for this meeting.”