The Rechabites’ Obedience

35 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of ^(A)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ² “Go to the house of the ^(B)Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the ^(C)chambers, and give them wine to drink.” ³ So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons, and all the household of the Rechabites, ⁴ and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the ^(D)man of God, which was next to the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^(E)the doorkeeper. ⁵ Then I set before the ^[a]men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “^(F)Drink wine!” ⁶ But they said, “We will not drink wine, for ^(G)Jonadab the son of ^(H)Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall ^(I)not drink wine, you or your sons, forever. ⁷ You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed nor plant a vineyard, nor ^[b]own one; but you shall live in ^(J)tents all your days, so that you may live ^(K)many days ^[c]in the land where you ^(L)live as strangers.’ ⁸ And we have ^(M)obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹ nor to build ourselves houses to live in; and we ^(N)do not have a vineyard, a field, or seed. ¹⁰ But we have ^(O)lived only in tents, and have obeyed and have done according to all that our father ^(P)Jonadab commanded us. ¹¹ However, when ^(Q)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let’s ^(R)go to Jerusalem away from the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Arameans.’ So we have lived in Jerusalem.”

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.

Judah Rebuked

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ “This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “^(A)Will you not accept instruction by listening to My words?” declares the Lord. ¹⁴ “The ^(B)words of Jonadab the son of Rechab have been followed, which he commanded his sons: not to drink wine. And they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. But I have spoken to you ^(C)again and again, yet you have ^(D)not listened to Me. ¹⁵ Also I have sent to you all My ^(E)servants the prophets, sending them again and again, saying: ‘^(F)Turn now every person from his evil way and amend your deeds, and ^(G)do not follow other gods to worship them. Then you will ^(H)live in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers; but you have not ^(I)inclined your ear or listened to Me. ¹⁶ Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have ^(J)followed the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me.’”’ ¹⁷ Therefore this is what the Lord says, the God of armies, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, ^(K)I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I ^(L)spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.’”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have ^(M)obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands, and done according to all that he commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Jonadab the son of Rechab ^(N)will not lack a man to ^(O)stand before Me ^[a]always.”’”

Paul Sails from Miletus

21 Now when ^(A)we had parted from them and had set sail, we ran ^(B)a straight course to Cos, and on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara; ² and having found a ship crossing over to ^(C)Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. ³ When we came in sight of ^(D)Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to ^(E)Syria and landed at ^(F)Tyre; for the ship was to unload its cargo there. ⁴ After looking up ^(G)the disciples, we stayed there for seven days; and they kept telling Paul, ^[a](H)through the Spirit, not to set foot in Jerusalem. ⁵ When ^[b]our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, ^(I)escorted us until we were out of the city. After ^(J)kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another. ⁶ Then we boarded the ship, and they returned ^(K)home.

⁷ When we had finished the voyage from ^(L)Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting ^(M)the brothers and sisters, we stayed with them for a day. ⁸ On the next day we left and came to ^(N)Caesarea, and we entered the house of ^(O)Philip the ^(P)evangelist, who was ^(Q)one of the seven, and stayed with him. ⁹ Now this man had four virgin daughters who were ^(R)prophetesses. ¹⁰ As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named ^(S)Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹ And he came to us and ^(T)took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This ^(U)is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will ^(V)bind the man who owns this belt and ^(W)hand him over to the Gentiles.’” ¹² When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him ^(X)not to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³ Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For ^(Y)I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die in Jerusalem for ^(Z)the name of the Lord Jesus.” ¹⁴ And since he would not be persuaded, we became quiet, remarking, “^(AA)The will of the Lord be done!”

Paul in Jerusalem

¹⁵ After these days we got ready and ^(AB)started on our way up to Jerusalem. ¹⁶ Some of ^(AC)the disciples from ^(AD)Caesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of ^(AE)Cyprus, a ^(AF)disciple of long standing with whom we were to stay.