Sceva was a Jewish high priest (or someone claiming to be one) living in Ephesus. He is known from the Acts of the Apostles as the father of seven sons who attempted to cast out evil spirits in the name of Jesus without having faith in Jesus themselves, which ended catastrophically for them. The event led to a great revival in Ephesus and demonstrated that God's power cannot be manipulated.
Sceva's seven sons, who were traveling Jewish exorcists, tried to use the name of Jesus to cast out evil spirits by saying: "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims."
13Some itinerant Jewish exorcists also tried invoking the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims."
The evil spirit answered them: 'Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?' This showed that the spirit world knew of Jesus and Paul, but did not recognize the authority of Sceva's sons.
When this became known to both Jews and Greeks in Ephesus, fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. The event showed that God's power cannot be misused.
Many who had come to faith confessed and openly reported what they had been doing. A large number of those who practiced magic arts gathered their books and burned them publicly.
19A good number of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in front of everyone. When the value was added up, it came to fifty thousand silver coins.[^1]
[^1]: A silver coin was roughly a day's wage for a laborer, so this sum represented an enormous amount of money.