Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 19:13

"But certain also of the strolling Jews, exorcists, took upon them to name over them that had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth." — Acts 19:13 (ASV)

Certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists.—The men belonged to a lower section of the class of which we have already seen representatives in Simon of Samaria or Elymas of Cyprus. (See Notes on Acts 8:9; Acts 13:6.) They practised exorcisms as a profession, and went from city to city, pretending with charms and spells to cure those who were looked on as possessed with demons. Many of these were said to have come down from Solomon. In Layard’s Nineveh and Babylon (chapter 22) there is an interesting account of several bronze bowls containing such formulas. To them “the name of the Lord Jesus,” which was so often on St. Paul’s lips, was just another formula, mightier than the name of the Most High God, or that of the archangels Raphael or Michael, which were used by others.