Paul in Macedonia

20 After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia.(A) And when he had passed through those areas and offered them many words of encouragement, he came to Greece and stayed three months. The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia.(B) He was accompanied[a] by Sopater son of Pyrrhus[b] from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy,(C) and Tychicus(D) and Trophimus(E) from the province of Asia. These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas,(F) but we sailed away from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread.(G) In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.

Eutychus Revived at Troas

On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread.(H) Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled, and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive.”(I) 11 After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left. 12 They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.

From Troas to Miletus

13 We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land. 14 When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mitylene. 15 Sailing from there, the next day we arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and[c] the day after, we came to Miletus.(J) 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.(K)

Farewell Address to the Ephesian Elders

17 Now 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, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,(L) 19 serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.(M) 20 You know that I did not hesitate to proclaim anything to you that was profitable and to teach you publicly and from house to house. 21 I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God(N) and faith in our Lord Jesus.(O)

22 “And now I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit,[d] not knowing what I will encounter there,(P) 23 except that in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.(Q) 24 But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course[e] and the ministry(R) I received from the Lord Jesus,(S) to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

25 “And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again. 26 Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent[f] of the blood of all of you,(T) 27 because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God.(U) 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock(V) of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers,(W) to shepherd the church of God,[g] which he purchased with his own blood.(X) 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.(Y) 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.(Z)

32 “And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace,(AA) which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance(AB) among all who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.(AC) 34 You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me.(AD) 35 In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

36 After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.(AE) 37 There were many tears shed by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.(AF)

Footnotes

  1. 20:4 Other mss add to Asia
  2. 20:4 Other mss omit son of Pyrrhus
  3. 20:15 Other mss add after staying at Trogyllium
  4. 20:22 Or in my spirit
  5. 20:24 Other mss add with joy
  6. 20:26 Lit clean
  7. 20:28 Some mss read church of the Lord; other mss read church of the Lord and God

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20 Now after the turmoil had ceased, Paul summoned[a] the disciples, and after[b] encouraging them,[c] he said farewell and[d] departed to travel to Macedonia. And after he[e] had gone through those regions and encouraged them at length,[f] he came to Greece and stayed[g] three months. Because[h] a plot was made against him by the Jews as he[i] was about to set sail for Syria, he came to a decision to return through Macedonia. And Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, and Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, and Gaius from Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia, were accompanying him. And these had gone on ahead and[j] were waiting for us in Troas. And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread and came to them at Troas within five days, where we stayed seven days.

Eutychus Falls from a Window

And on the first day of the week, when[k] we had assembled to break bread, Paul began conversing[l] with them, because he[m] was going to leave on the next day, and he extended his[n] message until midnight. Now there were quite a few lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered. And a certain young man named[o] Eutychus who was sitting in the window was sinking into a deep sleep while[p] Paul was conversing at length. Being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down and[q] threw himself on him, and putting his arms around him,[r] said, “Do not be distressed, for his life is in him.” 11 So he went up and broke bread,[s] and when he[t] had eaten and talked for a long time, until dawn, then he departed. 12 And they led the youth away alive, and were greatly[u] comforted.

The Voyage to Miletus

13 But we went on ahead to the ship and[v] put out to sea for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there. For having made arrangements in this way, he himself was intending to travel by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and[w] went to Mitylene. 15 And we sailed from there on the next day, and[x] arrived opposite Chios. And on the next day we approached Samos, and on the following day we came to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not be having to spend time in Asia.[y] For he was hurrying if it could be possible for him to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

17 And from Miletus he sent word[z] to Ephesus and[aa] summoned the elders of the church. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them, “You know from the first day on which I set foot in Asia[ab] how I was the whole time with you— 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews— 20 how I did not shrink from proclaiming to you anything that would be profitable, and from teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks with respect to repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

22 “And now behold, bound by the Spirit I am traveling to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there,[ac] 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in town after town, saying that bonds and persecutions await me. 24 But I consider my[ad] life as worth nothing[ae] to myself, in order to finish my mission and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

25 “And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about proclaiming the kingdom, will see my face no more. 26 Therefore I testify to you on this very day that I am guiltless of the blood of all of you,[af] 27 for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the whole purpose of God. 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he obtained through the blood of his own Son.[ag] 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 And from among you yourselves men will arise, speaking perversions of the truth[ah] in order to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you[ai] with tears.

32 “And now I entrust you to God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you[aj] up and to give you[ak] the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have desired no one’s silver or gold or clothing! 34 You yourselves know that these hands served to meet[al] my needs and the needs of[am] those who were with me. 35 I have shown you with respect to all things that by[an] working hard in this way it is necessary to help those who are in need, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”[ao]

36 And when he[ap] had said these things, he fell to his knees and[aq] prayed with them all. 37 And there was considerable weeping by all, and hugging[ar] Paul, they kissed him, 38 especially distressed at the statement that he had said, that they were going to see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

Footnotes

  1. Acts 20:1 Here the participle (“summoned”) has been translated as a finite verb in keeping with English style
  2. Acts 20:1 Here “after” is supplied as a component of the participle (“encouraging”) which is understood as temporal
  3. Acts 20:1 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  4. Acts 20:1 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“departed”) has been translated as a finite verb
  5. Acts 20:2 Here “after” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had gone through”) which is understood as temporal
  6. Acts 20:2 Literally “with many a word”
  7. Acts 20:3 Here the participle (“stayed”) has been translated as a finite verb in keeping with English style
  8. Acts 20:3 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the causal genitive absolute participle (“was made”)
  9. Acts 20:3 Here “as” is supplied as a component of the participle (“was about to”) which is understood as temporal
  10. Acts 20:5 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“had gone on ahead”) has been translated as a finite verb
  11. Acts 20:7 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“had assembled”)
  12. Acts 20:7 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began conversing”)
  13. Acts 20:7 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“was going to”) which is understood as causal
  14. Acts 20:7 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  15. Acts 20:9 Literally “by name”
  16. Acts 20:9 Here “while” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“was conversing”)
  17. Acts 20:10 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“went down”) has been translated as a finite verb
  18. Acts 20:10 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  19. Acts 20:11 *This participle and the previous one (“went up”) have been translated as finite verbs in keeping with English style
  20. Acts 20:11 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had eaten”) which is understood as temporal
  21. Acts 20:12 Literally “were not moderately”
  22. Acts 20:13 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“went on ahead”) has been translated as a finite verb
  23. Acts 20:14 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“took … on board”) has been translated as a finite verb
  24. Acts 20:15 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“sailed”) has been translated as a finite verb
  25. Acts 20:16 A reference to the Roman province of Asia (modern Asia Minor)
  26. Acts 20:17 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  27. Acts 20:17 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“sent”) has been translated as a finite verb
  28. Acts 20:18 A reference to the Roman province of Asia (modern Asia Minor)
  29. Acts 20:22 Literally “in it”
  30. Acts 20:24 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  31. Acts 20:24 Or “not a single word”; literally “not any thing”
  32. Acts 20:26 *The words “of you” are not in the Greek text but are implied
  33. Acts 20:28 Or “through his own blood”; the Greek construction can be taken either way, with “Son” implied if the meaning is “through the blood of his own”
  34. Acts 20:30 Literally “crooked things”
  35. Acts 20:31 The words “of you” are not in the Greek text but are implied
  36. Acts 20:32 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  37. Acts 20:32 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  38. Acts 20:34 The words “to meet” are not in the Greek text but are supplied for clarity
  39. Acts 20:34 The words “the needs of” are supplied in keeping with English style to maintain the parallelism with the earlier phrase “my needs”
  40. Acts 20:35 Here “by” is supplied as a component of the participle (“working hard”) which is understood as means
  41. Acts 20:35 Perhaps an allusion to Matt 10:8; these exact words are not found in the NT gospels
  42. Acts 20:36 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had said”) which is understood as temporal
  43. Acts 20:36 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“fell to”) has been translated as a finite verb
  44. Acts 20:37 Literally “falling on the neck of”