Acts 19:25

Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our source of prosperity.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Demetrius addresses fellow artisans and related tradesmen during a convened meeting in Ephesus, immediately after noting that Paul’s preaching threatens the demand for silver shrines of Artemis. He frames his appeal around their economic dependence on the temple trade.

The words — συναθροίσας (sunathroisas) means “having brought together,” describing Demetrius’s deliberate convening of the workers. περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐργάτας (peri ta toiauta ergatas) literally reads “concerning such things workmen,” identifying the specific craft guilds he gathers.

The thread — This economic threat motif echoes Acts 16:19, where opponents seize Paul and Silas when their profit vanishes, and Hosea 4:8 and 12:7 warn against leaders who feed on or profit from the people’s sins.

Why it lands — It forces readers to examine whether their livelihoods or social standing depend on systems that oppose the gospel. The verse demands a clear-eyed assessment of what prosperity costs when it conflicts with truth.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.

Cross-references

Hosea 12:7 A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.
Acts 16:19 When the girl’s owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the marketplace.
Hosea 4:8 They feed on the sins of My people and set their hearts on iniquity.
2 Peter 2:3 In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
Revelation 18:3 All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”
Revelation 18:11 And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo—