Kisah Para Rasul 19:34-35

19:34 But when they recognized ¹  that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison, ²  “Great is Artemis ³  of the Ephesians!” for about two hours. ⁴  19:35 After the city secretary ⁵  quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, what person ⁶  is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper ⁷  of the temple of the great Artemis ⁸  and of her image that fell from heaven? ⁹ 

[19:34]  ¹ tn Grk “But recognizing.” The participle ἐπιγνόντες (epignonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:34]  ² tn Grk “[they shouted] with one voice from all of them” (an idiom).

[19:34]  ³ sn Artemis was a Greek goddess worshiped particularly in Asia Minor, whose temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located just outside the city of Ephesus, 1.25 mi (2 km) northeast of the Grand Theater. Dimensions were 418 ft by 239 ft (125 m by 72 m) for the platform; the temple proper was 377 ft by 180 ft (113 m by 54 m). The roof was supported by 117 columns, each 60 ft (18 m) high by 6 ft (1.8 m) in diameter. The Emperor Justinian of Byzantium later took these columns for use in construction of the Hagia Sophia, where they still exist (in modern day Istanbul).

[19:34]  ⁴ sn They all shouted…for about two hours. The extent of the tumult shows the racial and social tensions of a cosmopolitan city like Ephesus, indicating what the Christians in such locations had to face.

[19:35]  ⁵ tn Or “clerk.” The “scribe” (γραμματεύς, grammateu") was the keeper of the city’s records.

[19:35]  ⁶ tn This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo").

[19:35]  ⁷ tn See BDAG 670 s.v. νεωκόρος. The city is described as the “warden” or “guardian” of the goddess and her temple.

[19:35]  ⁸ sn Artemis was a Greek goddess worshiped particularly in Asia Minor, whose temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located just outside the city of Ephesus.

[19:35]  ⁹ tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

[19:35]  sn The expression fell from heaven adds a note of apologetic about the heavenly origin of the goddess. The city’s identity and well-being was wrapped up with this connection, in their view. Many interpreters view her image that fell from heaven as a stone meteorite regarded as a sacred object.