Acts Chapter 19 verse 18 Holy Bible
Many also of them that had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds.
read chapter 19 in ASV
And a number of those who had faith came and made a public statement of their sins and all their acts.
read chapter 19 in BBE
And many of those that believed came confessing and declaring their deeds.
read chapter 19 in DARBY
And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.
read chapter 19 in KJV
read chapter 19 in WBT
Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds.
read chapter 19 in WEB
many also of those who did believe were coming, confessing and declaring their acts,
read chapter 19 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 18. - Many also of them that had believed for and many that believed, A.V.; confessing and declaring for and confessed and showed, A.V. Many also of them that had believed. This and the following verse speak of that class of converts who had previously been addicted to magic arts. It gives us a curious view of the extent to which magic prevailed among the Jews at this time. Nor was it less prevalent in heathen Ephesus. The magic formulae of Ephesus were famous under the name of Ἐφέσια γράμματα (see Renan, pp. 344,345, note), and the belief in magic seems to have been universal. Hesychius gives as the names of the oldest Ephesian charms, Aski, Kataski, Lix, Petrax, Damnameneus, AEsion, which he explains as meaning severally "Darkness, Light," "the Earth," "the Year," "the Truth" (Lewin, p. 334).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(18) And many that believed.--More accurately, many of those that had believed. The word is probably used, as in Acts 19:2, for the whole process of conversion, including baptism, confession in this instance following on that rite, instead of preceding it. The words do not definitely state whether the confession was made privately to St. Paul and the other teachers, or publicly in the presence of the congregation; but the latter is, as in the confession made to the Baptist, much the more probable. (See Note on Matthew 3:6.) The feeling of a vague awe at this contact with the Unseen in some, the special belief in Christ as the Judge of all men in others, roused conscience into intense activity; the sins of their past lives came back upon their memories, and it was a relief to throw off the burden by confessing them.
