Farewell to Ephesus

¹⁷ From Miletus he sent word to ^(A)Ephesus and called to himself ^(B)the elders of the church. ¹⁸ And when they came to him, he said to them,

“You yourselves know, ^(C)from the first day that I set foot in ^[a]Asia, how I was with you the whole time, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and trials which came upon me ^[b]through ^(D)the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ how I ^(E)did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was beneficial, and teaching you publicly and ^[c]from house to house, ²¹ solemnly ^(F)testifying to both Jews and Greeks of ^(G)repentance toward God and ^(H)faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. ²² And now, behold, bound by the ^[d]Spirit, ^(I)I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³ except that ^(J)the Holy Spirit solemnly ^(K)testifies to me in every city, saying that ^(L)chains and afflictions await me. ²⁴ But ^(M)I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may ^(N)finish my course and ^(O)the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to ^(P)testify solemnly of the gospel of ^(Q)God’s grace.

²⁵ “And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about ^(R)preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. ²⁶ Therefore, I ^[e]testify to you this day that ^(S)I am ^[f]innocent of the blood of all people. ²⁷ For I ^(T)did not shrink from declaring to you the whole ^(U)purpose of God. ²⁸ Be on guard for yourselves and for all ^(V)the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you ^[g]overseers, to shepherd ^(W)the church of God which ^(X)He ^[h]purchased ^[i]with His own blood. ²⁹ I know that after my departure ^(Y)savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing ^(Z)the flock; ³⁰ and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away ^(AA)the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of ^(AB)three years I did not cease to admonish each one ^(AC)with tears. ³² And now I ^(AD)entrust you to God and to ^(AE)the word of His grace, which is able to ^(AF)build you up and to give you ^(AG)the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ^33 (AH)I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. ³⁴ You yourselves know that ^(AI)these hands served my own needs and the ^(AJ)men who were with me. ³⁵ In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ When he had said these things, he ^(AK)knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ And ^[j]they all began to weep aloud and ^[k](AL)embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, ^38 [l]grieving especially over ^(AM)the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were ^(AN)accompanying him to the ship.