Book of Common Prayer

¹⁷ From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church, ¹⁸ and they came to him.

“You know very well,” he began, “how I have behaved with you all the time, since the first day I arrived in Asia. ¹⁹ I have served the Lord with all humility, with the tears and torments that came upon me because of the plots of the Jews. ²⁰ You know that I kept back nothing that would have been helpful to you, preaching to you and teaching you both in public and from house to house. ²¹ I bore witness both to Jews and Greeks about repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

²² “And now, look, I am going to Jerusalem, bound by the spirit. I have no idea what’s going to happen to me there, ²³ but only that the holy spirit testifies to me in city after city that captivity and trouble are in store for me. ²⁴ But I don’t reckon my life at any value, so long as I can finish my course, and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵ “So now,” he went on, “I have gone to and fro preaching the kingdom among you, but I know that none of you will ever see my face again. ²⁶ Therefore I bear witness to you this very day that I am innocent of everyone’s blood, ²⁷ since I did not shrink from declaring to you God’s entire plan.”

Watch out for yourselves, the flock and the wolves

²⁸ “Watch out for yourselves,” Paul continued, “and for the whole flock, in which the holy spirit has appointed you as guardians, to feed the church of God, which he purchased with his very own blood. ²⁹ I know that fierce wolves will come in after I am gone, and they won’t spare the flock. ³⁰ Yes, even from among yourselves people will arise, saying things which will distort the truth, and they will draw the disciples away after them. ³¹ Therefore keep watch, and remember that for three years, night and day, I didn’t stop warning each of you, with tears.

³² “So now I commit you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those whom God has sanctified. ³³ I never coveted anyone’s silver, or gold, or clothes. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these very hands worked to serve my own needs and those of the people with me. ³⁵ I showed you in all such matters that this is how we should work to help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, as he put it, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

³⁶ When he had said this, he knelt down with them all and prayed. ³⁷ There was great lamentation among them all, and they fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him. ³⁸ They were particularly sorry to hear the word he had spoken about never seeing his face again.

Then they brought him to the ship.

⁴² “Think about these little ones who believe in me,” he went on. “If anyone causes one of them to slip up, it would be much better for that person to have a huge millstone put around their neck, and be thrown into the sea.

⁴³ “And if your hand causes you to slip up, cut it off. It’s better for you to go into life maimed than to have two hands and go into Gehenna, into the fire that never goes out.

⁴⁵ “And if your foot causes you to slip up, cut it off. It’s better for you to go into life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into Gehenna.

⁴⁷ “And if your eye causes you to slip up, throw it away. It’s better for you to go into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into Gehenna, ⁴⁸ where

⁴⁹ “You see, everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ Salt is great stuff; but if salt becomes unsalty, how can you make it salty again? You need salt among yourselves. Live at peace with each other.”