Acts of Apostles - Chapter 20

¹ When the disturbance was over, Paul sent for the disciples and, after speaking words of encouragement to them, said good -- bye and set out for Macedonia.

² On his way through those areas he said many words of encouragement to them and then made his way into Greece,

³ where he spent three months. He was leaving by ship for Syria when a plot organised against him by the Jews made him decide to go back by way of Macedonia.

⁴ He was accompanied by Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, who came from Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus who came from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe, and Timothy, as well as Tychicus and Trophimus who were from Asia.

⁵ They all went on to Troas where they waited for us.

⁶ We ourselves left Philippi by ship after the days of Unleavened Bread and joined them five days later at Troas, where we stayed for a week.

⁷ On the first day of the week we met for the breaking of bread. Paul was due to leave the next day, and he preached a sermon that went on till the middle of the night.

⁸ A number of lamps were lit in the upstairs room where we were assembled,

⁹ and as Paul went on and on, a young man called Eutychus who was sitting on the window-sill grew drowsy and was overcome by sleep and fell to the ground three floors below. He was picked up dead.

¹⁰ Paul went down and stooped to clasp the boy to him, saying, 'There is no need to worry, there is still life in him.'

¹¹ Then he went back upstairs where he broke the bread and ate and carried on talking till he left at daybreak.

¹² They took the boy away alive, and were greatly encouraged.

¹³ We were now to go on ahead by sea, so we set sail for Assos, where we were to take Paul on board; this was what he had arranged, for he wanted to go overland.

¹⁴ When he rejoined us at Assos we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene.

¹⁵ The next day we sailed from there and arrived opposite Chios. The second day we touched at Samos and, after stopping at Trogyllium, made Miletus the next day.

¹⁶ Paul had decided to pass wide of Ephesus so as to avoid spending time in Asia, since he was anxious to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷ From Miletus he sent for the elders of the church of Ephesus.

¹⁸ When they arrived he addressed these words to them: 'You know what my way of life has been ever since the first day I set foot among you in Asia,

¹⁹ how I have served the Lord in all humility, with all the sorrows and trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.

²⁰ I have not hesitated to do anything that would be helpful to you; I have preached to you and instructed you both in public and in your homes,

²¹ urging both Jews and Greeks to turn to God and to believe in our Lord Jesus.

²² 'And now you see me on my way to Jerusalem in captivity to the Spirit; I have no idea what will happen to me there,

²³ except that the Holy Spirit, in town after town, has made it clear to me that imprisonment and persecution await me.

²⁴ But I do not place any value on my own life, provided that I complete the mission the Lord Jesus gave me -- to bear witness to the good news of God's grace.

²⁵ 'I now feel sure that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will ever see my face again.

²⁶ And so on this very day I swear that my conscience is clear as far as all of you are concerned,

²⁷ for I have without faltering put before you the whole of God's purpose.

²⁸ 'Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the guardians, to feed the Church of God which he bought with the blood of his own Son.

²⁹ 'I know quite well that when I have gone fierce wolves will invade you and will have no mercy on the flock.

³⁰ Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them.

³¹ So be on your guard, remembering how night and day for three years I never slackened in counselling each one of you with tears.

³² And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace that has power to build you up and to give you your inheritance among all the sanctified.

³³ 'I have never asked anyone for money or clothes;

³⁴ you know for yourselves that these hands of mine earned enough to meet my needs and those of my companions.

³⁵ By every means I have shown you that we must exert ourselves in this way to support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, who himself said, "There is more happiness in giving than in receiving." '

³⁶ When he had finished speaking he knelt down with them all and prayed.

³⁷ By now they were all in tears; they put their arms round Paul's neck and kissed him;

³⁸ what saddened them most was his saying they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship.

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