Acts 20
1 After the uproar died down, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them. He said farewell and set out for Macedonia.
2 He traveled through those regions, encouraging the brothers with many words, and came to Greece.
3 He stayed there for three months. When the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.
4 Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea accompanied him, along with Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia.
5 They went on ahead and waited for us in Troas.
6 After the days of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi and, five days later, joined them in Troas, where we stayed seven days.
7 On the first day of the week, when we had gathered to break bread, Paul spoke with them. Since he was going to leave the next day, he kept speaking until midnight.
8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we had gathered.
9 A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window. As Paul spoke at length, he sank into a deep sleep. Overcome by sleep, he fell from the third floor and was picked up dead.
10 Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, for his life is in him.”
11 Then he went back upstairs, broke the bread and ate. He talked with them for a long time, until dawn, and then left.
12 They took the boy away alive, and were greatly comforted.
13 We went on ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, where we were to take Paul aboard. That was what he had arranged, since he intended to go by land.
14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went to Mytilene.
15 Sailing from there, we arrived opposite Chios the next day; the day after that, we put in at Samos; and the following day we reached Miletus.
16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so he would not lose time in Asia. He was hurrying to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.
17 From Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.
18 When they came to him, he said to them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day I set foot in Asia,
19 serving the Lord with all humility, with tears and through trials that came upon me because of the plots of the Jews.
20 I never held back from telling you anything that would benefit you, or from teaching you in public and from house to house,
21 testifying to Jews and Greeks alike about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
22 And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in city after city, saying that prison and hardship await me.
24 But I do not consider my life precious to myself, as long as I complete my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus: to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.”
25 “And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about proclaiming the Kingdom, will ever see my face again.
26 So I declare to you today that I am innocent of everyone’s blood,
27 for I did not hold back from telling you the whole purpose of God.
28 Watch over yourselves and all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he acquired with his own blood.
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
30 Even from among you, men will rise up, speaking twisted things to draw the disciples away after them.
31 So stay alert, remembering that for three years, night and day, I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.
32 And now I entrust you to the Lord and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified.
33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver, gold, or clothing.
34 You yourselves know that these hands have provided for my needs and for those who were with me.
35 In every way I showed you that by working like this we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 After saying this, he knelt down with them all and prayed.
37 They all wept bitterly, and throwing their arms around Paul’s neck, they kissed him.
38 They were especially saddened by what he had said, that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
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