The townclerk wanted to stop a riot. Demetrius had warned that Paul's preaching would cause the temple of Diana to be "despised" and "her magnificence" to be "destroyed" (Acts 19:27). The clerk answered that fear with a question everyone in the theatre would agree with: all the world knows Ephesus is Diana's city. If that is beyond question, there is no need to riot. Matthew Henry notes that the people had been persuaded the image fell down from Jupiter and so was none of the gods made with men's hands, and he reports that some take the clerk to mean that what was said against gods made with hands did not affect them.

The clerk answered his own question: "Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly" (Acts 19:36). He said Paul's companions were "neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess" (Acts 19:37). If Demetrius had a complaint, "the law is open, and there are deputies" (Acts 19:38), and other matters belonged in "a lawful assembly" (Acts 19:39). He warned that the city was "in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar" (Acts 19:40). Then "he dismissed the assembly" (Acts 19:41).

"Townclerk" translates grammateus, the same word usually translated "scribe." Barnes defines it as "The scribe; the secretary." Gill thinks this man seems to have been more than a town clerk, rather "a chief man of the city" as the Syriac version renders it, and he reports the view of some learned men that the people chose him for this office.

"Worshipper" translates neokoros, a temple keeper. Gill says the word "signifies an officer in the temple, one that looked after it," and Barnes notes that keeping a temple "was regarded as an office of honor and dignity," an honor Ephesus held for the temple of Diana. Diana is the Roman name for the Greek goddess Artemis, the name in the Greek text. "The image which fell down from Jupiter" translates one Greek word, diopetes, meaning fallen from the sky.

The riot began because the gospel was changing Ephesus. Paul had taught that "they be no gods, which are made with hands" (Acts 19:26), and so many people believed that the idol makers' trade was threatened. Just before this, the believers had burned their magic books, "So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed" (Acts 19:20).

The clerk's defense of Diana rested on the claim that her image was not made with hands but fell from the sky. Yet his appeal to the law ended the uproar, and "he dismissed the assembly" (Acts 19:41). Afterward Paul called the disciples, embraced them, and departed for Macedonia (Acts 20:1).