The Acts of the Apostles

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 20 -

After the people at Ephesus had stopped rioting, Paul called the believers together. He urged them to continue to trust in the Lord Jesus. Soon after that, he told them “Goodbye” and left to go to the region of Macedonia.

After he arrived there, he urged them to continue to trust in the Lord Jesus. Then he went to Greece.

He stayed in Greece for three months. Then he planned to return to Syria by ship, but he heard that some of the Jews there were planning to kill him as he traveled. So he decided to go by land, and he went again through Macedonia.

The men who were going to travel with him to Jerusalem were Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from the town of Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, who were from the city of Thessalonica; Gaius, who was from the city of Derbe; Timothy, who was from the region of Galatia; and Tychicus and Trophimus, who were from the province of Asia.

Those seven men went ahead of Paul and me, Luke, by ship from Macedonia, so they got to the city of Troas before we did and waited for the two of us there.

But Paul and I traveled by land as far as the city of Philippi. After the Jewish Festival of Bread made without Yeast, we got on a ship that was going to the city of Troas. After five days we arrived at Troas and met the other men who had traveled ahead of us. Then we all stayed in Troas for seven days.

Eutychus Revived at Troas

(2 Kings 4:18–37)

On the first day of the week, we would gather together and we would share a meal together with the other believers. Paul spoke to the believers until midnight, because he was planning to leave Troas the next day.

Many oil lamps were burning in the upstairs room in which we had gathered.

A young man whose name was Eutychus was there. He was seated on the sill of an open window on the third story of the house. As Paul continued talking for a long time, Eutychus became sleepier and sleepier. Finally, he fell sound asleep. He fell out of the window down to the ground. Some of the believers went down immediately and picked him up. But he was dead.

Paul also went down. He lay down and stretched out on top of the young man and put his arms around him. Then he said to the people who were standing around, “Do not worry; he is alive again!”

Paul went upstairs again and he prepared a meal and he ate it. Afterwards he talked with the believers until the sun came up. Then he left.

The other people took the young man home, and were greatly comforted because he was alive again.

From Troas to Miletus

We then went to the ship. But Paul did not get on the ship with us in Troas, because he wanted to go more quickly overland to the town of Assos. The rest of us got on the ship and sailed for Assos.

We met Paul in Assos. He got on the ship with us, and we sailed to the city of Mitylene.

The day after we reached Mitylene, we sailed from there and arrived at a place near the Island of Chios. The day after that, we sailed to the Island of Samos. The next day we left Samos and sailed to the city of Miletus.

Miletus was just south of the city of Ephesus. Paul did not want to stop at Ephesus because he did not want to spend time in Asia. If possible, he wanted to arrive in Jerusalem by the time of the Pentecost festival, and the time of that festival was near.

Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesians

When the ship arrived at Miletus, Paul sent a messenger to Ephesus to ask the elders of the group of believers there to come to talk with him.

When the elders came to him, Paul said to them, “From the first day when I arrived here in the province of Asia until the day I left, you know how I acted among you the entire time that I was with you.

You know how I kept serving the Lord Jesus very humbly and how I sometimes wept. You also know how I suffered because the Jews who were not believers often tried to harm me.

You also know that, when I preached God’s message to you, I never left out anything that would help you. You know that I taught you God’s message when many people were present, and I also went to your homes and taught you there.

I preached both to Jews and to non-Jews, telling them all that they must turn away from their sinful behavior and believe in our Lord Jesus.”

“And now I am going to Jerusalem, because the Holy Spirit has clearly shown me that I must go there, and I must obey him. I do not know what will happen to me there.

But I do know that in each city I have visited, the Holy Spirit has told me that in Jerusalem people will put me in prison and will cause me to suffer.

But I do not care even if people kill me, if first I am able to finish the work that the Lord Jesus has told me to do. He called me to tell people the good message that God saves us by doing for us what we do not deserve.

I have preached to you the message about how God will show himself as king. But now I know that today is the last time that you fellow believers will see me.

So I want you all to understand that if anyone who has heard me preach dies without trusting in Jesus, it is not my fault,

because I told you everything that God has planned for us.

You leaders must continue to believe and obey God’s message. You must also help all the other believers for whom the Holy Spirit has given you to care for. Watch over yourselves and the group of the Lord’s believers as a shepherd watches over his sheep. God bought them with the blood that flowed from his Son’s body on the cross.

I know very well that after I leave, people who teach lies will come among you and will do great harm to the believers. They will be like fierce wolves that kill the sheep.

Even in your own group of leaders there will be some who will lie to other believers by teaching them the wrong things. They will teach those messages so that some people will believe them and will become their followers.

So watch out that none of you stops believing the true message about our Lord Jesus! Remember that day and night for three years I taught you that message and warned you with tears to be faithful to the Lord.”

“Now as I leave you I ask God to protect you and to keep you believing the message that he saves us by doing for us what we do not deserve. If you continue believing the message that I told you, you will become strong, and God will give you forever the good things that he has promised to give to all of those who belong to him.

As for myself, I never wanted anyone’s money or fine clothing.

You yourselves know that I have worked with my hands to earn the money that my friends and I needed.

In everything that I did, I showed you that we should work hard in order to have enough money to give some to those who are needy. We should remember that our Lord Jesus himself said, ‘A person is happier when he gives to others than when he receives from them.’”

When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of the elders and prayed.

They all cried a lot, and they hugged Paul and kissed him.

They were very sad because he had said that they would never see him again. Then they all went with him to the ship.

After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, took leave of them, and departed to go into Macedonia.

When he had gone through those parts and had encouraged them with many words, he came into Greece.

When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia.

These accompanied him as far as Asia: Sopater of Beroea, Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, Gaius of Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

But these had gone ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas.

We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days.

Eutychus Revived at Troas

(2 Kings 4:18–37)

On the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day; and continued his speech until midnight.

There were many lights in the upper room where we

(a)

were gathered together.

A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Paul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third floor and was taken up dead.

Paul went down and fell upon him, and embracing him said, “Don’t be troubled, for his life is in him.”

When he had gone up, had broken bread and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even until break of day, he departed.

They brought the boy in alive, and were greatly comforted.

From Troas to Miletus

But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there; for he had so arranged, intending himself to go by land.

When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and came to Mitylene.

Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus.

For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesians

From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to himself the elders of the assembly.

When they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time,

serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews;

how I didn’t shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house,

testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus.(b)

Now, behold, I go bound by the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there;

except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.

But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.

“Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about preaching God’s Kingdom, will see my face no more.

Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men,

for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

Take heed, therefore, to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and

(c)

God which he purchased with his own blood.

For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.

Now, brothers,(d) I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

I coveted no one’s silver, gold, or clothing.

You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me.

In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

They all wept freely, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him,

sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

Footnotes

(a)20:8 TR reads “they” instead of “we”

(b)20:21 TR adds “Christ”

(d)20:32 The word for “brothers” here and where the context allows may also be correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.”