Acts 20:17-27

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

¹⁷ From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him.^{(A) 18} When they came to him, he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,^{(B) 19} serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. ²⁰ I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house,^{(C) 21} as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus.^{[a](D) 22} And now, as a captive to the Spirit,^[b] I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,^{(E) 23} except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.^{(F) 24} But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.^(G)

²⁵ “And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again.^{(H) 26} Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,^{(I) 27} for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.^(J)