Acts 19:27

There is danger not only that our business will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and her majesty deposed—she who is worshiped by all the province of Asia and the whole world.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Demetrius addresses fellow craftsmen in Ephesus during a riot triggered by Paul’s preaching against idolatry. He warns that their trade faces immediate reputational and economic collapse.

The words — κινδυνεύει (kinduneuei) explicitly states that their enterprise is actively endangered, while τὸ μέρος (to meros) refers literally to their specific trade sector. The phrasing οὐ μὲν μόνον (ou men monon) structures the warning as a dual threat rather than a single concern.

The thread — The verse’s warning about the exposure of false worship aligns with Zephaniah 2:11, where the Lord will starve the gods of the earth. It also mirrors the friction in 1 Timothy 6:5 between those who recognize truth and those who treat godliness as a profit scheme.

Why it lands — It requires readers to separate the explicit claim that idolatry’s economic foundation is collapsing from the inferred motive of protecting temple revenue. It demands a direct assessment of how commercial interests actively oppose the gospel.

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

So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

Cross-references

Zephaniah 2:11 The LORD will be terrifying to them when He starves all the gods of the earth. Then the nations of every shore will bow in worship to Him, each in its own place.
1 Timothy 6:5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain.
Matthew 23:13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
Acts 19:21 After these things had happened, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well.”
1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.
Revelation 13:3 One of the heads of the beast appeared to have been mortally wounded. But the mortal wound was healed, and the whole world marveled and followed the beast.
Revelation 13:8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.