Dɔwɔwɔwo 19
1 Esime Apolo ganɔ Korinto la, Paulo hã zɔ mɔ to Terki nutowo me va ɖo Efeso. Ekpɔe be xɔsetɔ aɖewo le afi ma, eye le woƒe nyamedzodzro me la,
At that time, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul was visiting places in Frigia country and Galatia country. Then Paul left those places and went through Asia country, then he went on to the town called Ephesus. He met some men there that reckoned they were Christians.
2 Paulo bia wo be, “Esi miexɔ se la, miexɔ Gbɔgbɔ Kɔkɔe la mahã?” Ke woɖo eŋu be, “Ao, míexɔ Gbɔgbɔ Kɔkɔe la o, eye le nyateƒe me la, míese eŋkɔ kpɔ gɔ̃ hã o.”
Paul asked them, “Did the Holy Spirit come into you when you believed God’s message?” They said, “No, he didn’t. We don’t know anything about the Holy Spirit. We’ve never heard of him.”
3 Paulo yi edzi bia wo be, “Ekema nu ka dzie miexɔ se hafi wode mawutsi ta na mi?” Woɖo eŋu be, “Wode mawutsi ta na mí ɖe Yohanes Mawutsidetanamela ƒe nufiafia nu.”
So Paul asked them, “Who baptised you, and why did they do it?” They said, “We got John the Baptiser to baptise us, to show we were sorry for doing bad things.”
4 Esi Paulo se nya sia la, egblɔ na wo be, “Yohanes Mawutsidetanamela ɖeko wòwɔe be yeafia ale si ame nadzudzɔ nu vɔ̃ wɔwɔ, atrɔ va Mawu gbɔ eye emegbe la, wòaxɔ Yesu Kristo, ame si ƒe nya Yohanes gblɔ be ele vava ge la dzi ase, ale be woade mawutsi ta nɛ ɖe eƒe ŋkɔ me.”
Paul said, “John baptised people that turned away from doing bad things. But he also told people to believe in the man that was coming after him. That man is Jesus.”
5 Esi wose nya sia la, wo katã wolɔ̃, eye Paulo de mawutsi ta na wo ɖe Aƒetɔ Yesu ƒe ŋkɔ me.
Those men heard that story about Jesus, and they believed in him too. Then the Christians baptised them to show that those men were following Jesus, their leader.
6 Esi Paulo da asi ɖe wo dzi la, woxɔ Gbɔgbɔ Kɔkɔe la, eye woƒo nu kple gbegbɔgblɔ bubuwo hegblɔ nya ɖi hã.
Then Paul put his hands on their heads, and the Holy Spirit came into each one of them. The Holy Spirit gave them the power to talk in different languages. And the Holy Spirit gave them messages, and they told everyone those messages.
7 Ameawo ƒe xexlẽme nɔ ame wuieve.
There were about 12 men in that mob.
8 Paulo yi ɖe ƒuƒoƒe la me nɔ mawunya gblɔm kple dzideƒo ɣleti etɔ̃ sɔŋ, eye wòle mawufiaɖuƒe la ŋutinya ƒom ɖe wo nu ale be woxɔe se.
For the next 3 months, Paul went to the meetings that the Jewish people had in their meeting house in Ephesus, and he talked strongly to the people there. He tried to get them to understand how God takes people into his family.
9 Ame aɖewo mexɔ eƒe nya o, ale wotsi tsitre ɖe eŋu vevie hegblɔ busunya geɖe ɖe Mɔ la ŋu le dutoƒo. Nu sia na be Paulo dzo le wo gbɔ. Ke ekplɔ nusrɔ̃lawo ɖe asi yi Tirano Takpexɔa me, afi si wòƒoa nu na wo le gbe sia gbe.
Some of those people believed that message about Jesus. But some of them didn’t believe it, and they didn’t want to keep on hearing it, so they stood up in front of everybody and said bad things about the Christian people. (Another name for the Christians was the Jesus Way mob.) So Paul left the Jewish meeting house, and he took the Christians with him. They didn’t go to the Jewish meeting house any more, but they had their meetings in a meeting house called Tiranus Hall. Paul was there every day, and he talked with people there about Jesus.
10 Ewɔ nu sia ƒe eve sɔŋ ale be Yudatɔwo kple Grikitɔ siwo katã le Asia la katã se Aƒetɔ la ƒe nya la.
He kept on doing that for 2 years, so people from all over that country called Asia heard God’s message about Jesus. Both Jewish people and Greek people heard that message about Jesus.
11 Mawu wɔ nukunu tɔxɛwo to Paulo ƒe asi dzi
And God gave Paul the power to do great things that nobody else can do.
12 ale gbegbe be wòtsɔa takuviwo kple akɔtawuiwo kaa dɔnɔwo ŋu wohayana, eye gbɔgbɔ vɔ̃wo hã doa go le wo me.
He made sick people better, even if they couldn’t come to him. Their friends got things that he touched, like handkerchiefs or aprons, and they took them and put them on those sick people. Then those sick people got better, and bad spirits came out of them.
13 Yudatɔ aɖewo hã nɔ tsatsam tso du me yi du me henɔ gbɔgbɔ vɔ̃wo nyam le amewo me. Ame siawo va ɖo be yewoayɔ Aƒetɔ Yesu Kristo ƒe ŋkɔ anya gbɔgbɔ vɔ̃e kpɔ be adze edzi na yewo mahã? Woɖoe be ne yewotu ame si me gbɔgbɔ vɔ̃ le la, yewoado ɣli ɖe eta be, “Meɖe gbe na wò le Yesu Kristo, ame si ƒe nya gblɔm Paulo le la ƒe ŋkɔ me be nàdo go!”
There were also some Jewish people there that were not Christians, and they went around to a lot of places, and in each place they tried to get bad spirits to come out of people. There were 7 men that were doing that. They were sons of Sceva, a boss of the Jewish ceremonies. They went into a house and said to a man that had a bad spirit, “I’m using the power of Jesus, the man that Paul talks about, and I’m telling you to come out of this man.”
14 Ame siwo nɔ nu sia wɔm la woe nye Yudatɔwo ƒe nunɔlagã aɖe si woyɔna be Skeva la ƒe viŋutsuvi adreawo.
15 Wova ke ɖe ame aɖe si me gbɔgbɔ vɔ̃ le la ŋu vavã, eye wote kpɔ be yewoanya gbɔgbɔ vɔ̃ la le Yesu ƒe ŋkɔ me. Ke gbɔgbɔ vɔ̃ la bia wo be, “Yesu la medze sii eye Paulo la menyae nyuie, ke miawo ɖe, ame kawoe mienye?”
But that bad spirit didn’t come out. He said to those men, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but I don’t know you mob.”
16 Enumake ame si me gbɔgbɔ vɔ̃ le la dzo dze wo dometɔ eve dzi, heɖu wo dzi, ƒo wo, eye wòvuvu awu le wo ŋu ale be wosi do go le aƒea me amamae.
Then the man that had the bad spirit jumped on those 7 men, and he knocked all of them down, and he tore their clothes off, and he beat them up. They all ran out of the house to get away from him.
17 Nya sia kaka ɖe Yudatɔwo kple Helatɔwo siaa dome le Efeso dua me. Ale vɔvɔ̃ tɔxɛ aɖe dze wo dometɔ ɖe sia ɖe dzi, eye wode bubu Aƒetɔ Yesu ƒe ŋkɔ ŋu.
All the people that lived in Ephesus heard that story about those 7 men. Jewish people heard that story, and Greek people heard it too, and they all got really frightened, and they really respected Jesus, and they said good things about him.
18 Ame geɖe siwo xɔe se la va eye woʋu woƒe nu vɔ̃ɖiwo wɔwɔ me.
At that time, some of the Christians in Ephesus were still doing bad things, and some of them used to sing people and curse people. They had a lot of books that showed them how to do that bad magic. Those Christians heard about those 7 men, and then they said that they were sorry for the bad things that they were doing, and they gathered up all of those books about magic, and they burned them. Everybody saw them burn those books. Those books about magic cost a lot of money. They reckoned all of those books together cost about 5 million dollars.
19 Ame siwo nye afakalawo la tsɔ woƒe agbalẽwo kple nu kpotokpotoewo vɛ, eye wotɔ dzo wo le dutoƒo. Nu siwo wotɔ dzoe la ƒe home anɔ abe siɖi akpe blaatɔ̃ ene.
20 Esia nye dzesi be Aƒetɔ la ƒe nya la xɔ aƒe kple ŋusẽ le nuto la me vavã.
That’s how the message about Jesus got very powerful, and a lot of people heard that message.
21 Emegbe la, Gbɔgbɔ Kɔkɔe la dee Paulo me be wòayi Makedonia kple Akaya nuto me hafi atrɔ ayi Yerusalem. Eya ŋutɔ hã ɖoe be tso afi ma la, ele be yeayi Roma hã.
After those things happened, Paul wanted to visit the Christians in Macedonia country and Akaya country again, and then he wanted to go on to Jerusalem after that. And he said, “After I go to Jerusalem, I have to go to Rome too.”
22 Eɖo eƒe kpeɖeŋutɔ eve siwo nye Timoteo kple Erasto la ɖa be woado ŋgɔ ayi Makedonia, Hela nuto me, ke eya ŋutɔ gatsi Asia vie.
Timothy and Erastus were his helpers at that time. Paul sent them ahead of him to Macedonia country, but Paul stayed a little while longer in Ephesus, in Asia country.
23 Ke le ɣe ma ɣi la, masɔmasɔ gã aɖe va Efeso dua me le Kristotɔwo ta.
Soon after that, some of the people in Ephesus tried to make a lot of trouble for the Christians, the Jesus Way mob.
24 Ame si he masɔmasɔ sia vɛ lae nye Demetrio. Ame sia nye klosalotula, eye dɔsrɔ̃viwo nɔ esi fũu. Wonɔa Helatɔwo ƒe mawu, Artemis ƒe legbawo wɔm kple klosalo.
There was a man there that used silver to make little models of the special house of a woman god called Artemis. That man’s name was Demetrius. And there were other men there that made those little house models too. They sold them to people that respected Artemis, and they got a lot of money from that business.
25 Gbe ɖeka la, Demetrio ƒo eƒe dɔwɔlawo kple ame siwo katã wɔa klosalotutu dɔ le dua me la nu ƒu, eye wòƒo nu na wo ale, “Mía tɔwo, miawo ŋutɔwo mienya be klosalotutu siae míewɔna ɖuna.
Demetrius had a meeting with his work-men and the other men that made things for that god called Artemis. Demetrius said to them, “Men, you know that we make these things and we sell them for a lot of money.
26 Ke ele nyanya me na mi katã be Paulo va le tagbɔ gblẽm na amewo be mawu siwo wotsɔ asi wɔe la menye mawu gbagbe o, eye esia na be míaƒe dɔ megale edzi yim tututu le Efeso afi sia kple Asia nuto la katã me o.
But that man, Paul, he talks to big mobs of people, and he says, ‘Don’t buy those things. Those statues that people say are gods, they are not gods at all. It was people that made them, so don’t show respect to them.’ Lots of people here in Ephesus listened to him, and now even the people from other towns in this Asia country agree with him, and they don’t want to buy the things we make.
27 Azɔ medi be mianya be menye míaƒe dɔwɔna ɖeɖe tae mele nya siawo gblɔm o, ke boŋ ele bɔbɔe be mawu bubutɔ, Artemis subɔsubɔ dzi aɖe kpɔtɔ, eye madidi o la, Artemis si nye Mawu gã si wosubɔna le Asia nuto blibo la katã me kple xexeme godoo la ƒe ŋkɔ abu keŋ.”
If people keep on listening to Paul, we’ll soon go broke. And not only that, but people will reckon they don’t have to come to the special house of Artemis to show respect to her. People all over our Asia country and everywhere show respect to our great woman god Artemis, but soon people might not think that Artemis is great at all.”
28 Nya sia de adã ta me na ameha la ale wode asi ɣlidodo me sesĩe be, “Artemis, Efesotɔwo ƒe mawu la lolo!”
All the men there heard Demetrius say that, and then they were very angry with Paul. They started to shout, “Artemis is very great. She is the god of us Ephesus mob.”
29 Ɣlidodo sia na be amewo ƒo zi be yewoakpɔ nu si le edzi yim la ɖa, eye le ɣeyiɣi kpui aɖe megbe la, du blibo la katã tɔ zi. Ame sia ame ƒu du yi ƒuƒoƒe la, eye wolé Gayo kple Aristako, ame siwo nye Paulo ƒe mɔzɔhatiwo tso Makedonia.
A lot of the other people in the town heard them shouting, and they went and joined those men and started shouting too. They got angry with Paul, and they grabbed the 2 men from Macedonia that used to go around with Paul. Their names were Guyus and Aristarkus. They dragged those 2 men to the sports oval of that town.
30 Paulo di vevie be yeadze wo yome ayi ƒuƒoƒe la, gake nusrɔ̃la bubuawo meɖe mɔ nɛ o.
Paul wanted to go there too, to talk to the people, but the other Christians wouldn’t let him do that.
31 Romasrafo siwo le nutoa me la dometɔ siwo nye Paulo xɔlɔ̃wo hã ɖo ame ɖe egbɔ gblɔ nɛ be megado ta ɖe afi ma o.
There were some government officials of that country that were friends with Paul. They heard that those people went wild, so they sent him a message to tell him strongly, “Don’t go to that sports oval. That mob are too wild. They might kill you.”
32 Takpekpe la ŋutɔ tɔ zi kɔtɔɔ. Ame sia ame nɔ ɣli dom, nɔ nya sia nya ƒomevi si dze eŋu la gblɔm. Vavã, wo dometɔ geɖe hã menya nu si tututu ta wova ƒo ƒu ɖe afi ma ɖo gɔ̃ hã o.
That big mob of people were a bit mixed up. Some of them shouted one thing, and some of them shouted something else. But most of them didn’t even know what the meeting was about.
33 Yudatɔ aɖewo kpɔ Aleksandro le ameawo dome, eye enumake wohee do goe wòva tsi tsitre ɖe ameha la ŋkume. Ekɔ asi dzi, eye ɖoɖoe zi, ale wòde asi nuƒoƒo me na wo.
One of the Jewish men there was called Alexander. Some people there pushed him to the front so that he could talk to the crowd of people. So Alexander held up his hand, to get the mob to be quiet.
34 Ke esi ameha la kpɔe dze sii be Yudatɔ wònye la, wogade asi ɣlidodo me be, “Artemis, Efesotɔwo ƒe mawu la lolo! Artemis, Efesotɔwo ƒe Mawu la lolo!”
But some of that mob knew that Alexander was a Jew, and that the Jews didn’t show respect to Artemis, so they shouted, “Artemis is very great. She is the god of us Ephesus mob.” And that mob kept on shouting like that for about 2 hours.
35 Mlɔeba la, dua ƒe agbalẽŋlɔla la ble wo nu wozi ɖoɖoe, ale wòƒo nu na wo gblɔ be, “Efesotɔwo, ame sia ame nya be Efeso du siae nye trɔ̃ gã Artemis si ge tso dziƒo la ƒe du gã.
Then an important government leader in that town got the mob to stop shouting, and he said to them, “Listen, Ephesus people, everyone knows that we Ephesus people look after the special house for Artemis, the great woman god. And everyone knows that we look after the statue of her that fell down from the sky.
36 Le esia ta la, mehiã be ne ame aɖe gblɔ nya bubu aɖe ko la, mianɔ ʋunyaʋunya wɔm alea gbegbe o.
Nobody can say that those things are not true. So you have to be quiet now. Don’t do anything that will make trouble for us.
37 Ame siwo mielé va afi sia la mefi naneke le Artemis ƒe gbedoxɔ me o, eye womegblɔ busunya aɖeke ɖe míaƒe mawunɔ la ŋu hã o.
Why did you bring these 2 men here? They didn’t do anything bad. They didn’t go into the special houses for our gods and take things from there. And they didn’t say anything bad about our woman god.
38 Gake ne Demetrio kple eƒe hadɔwɔlawo kpɔ be nya aɖe le yewo kple ame siawo dome la, ekema ɖe wòle na wo be woatsɔ nya ɖe wo ŋu le ʋɔnudrɔ̃ƒe. Ʋɔnudrɔ̃lawo hã le klalo be yewoadrɔ̃ nyaa na wo.
If Demetrius and his mates want to blame anyone about anything bad, they have to do it the right way. They have to go to the judges in the courts. If anybody wants to blame somebody else, those judges are ready to listen. That’s their job.
39 Ne nya bubu aɖe gali la, ekema woate ŋu ayi dutakpekpea me aɖalée kpɔ.
Or if anybody wants to complain about something else, there are other government bosses that can meet together and think about that problem.
40 Ke ne miekpɔ nyuie o la, Roma dziɖuɖua abia tso mía si be míana akɔnta le egbe ƒe ʋunyaʋunya si nu ta mele o la ŋu, eye nyemenya nya ka magblɔ ne wòva eme alea o.”
You see, you mob now are not a proper meeting, and if the big Roman bosses hear about all this trouble, they might say that we Ephesus people are trying to start a fight against the Roman government. If they ask me about all this trouble, I will not know what to tell them.”
41 Ale dudzikpɔla la kaka ƒuƒoƒo la, eye ame sia ame trɔ dzo yi aƒe me.
Then the government leader told the mob, “You can all go home now.” And they all went away from that sports oval.
