25 He called a meeting of these and other workers in related crafts and said, “Men, you know well that our prosperity derives from this work.
26 As you can now see and hear, not only in Ephesus but throughout most of the province of Asia this Paul has persuaded and misled a great number of people by saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all.
27 The danger grows, not only that our business will be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be of no account, and that she whom the whole province of Asia and all the world worship will be stripped of her magnificence.”
28 When they heard this, they were filled with fury and began to shout, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
29 The city was filled with confusion, and the people rushed with one accord into the theater, seizing Gaius and Aristarchus, the Macedonians, Paul’s traveling companions.
30 Paul wanted to go before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him,
31 and even some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent word to him advising him not to venture into the theater.