20
“Don’t Be Alarmed! He’s Alive!”
1 When the excitement had died down, Paul had the disciples come to him, and after encouraging them, he said good-bye and set out for Macedonia.
2 After passing through those regions and strengthening the believers there+ with many encouraging words,+ he arrived in Greece,
3 where+ he stayed for three months. When the unbelieving Jews+ devised+ a plot against him as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided+ to go back through Macedonia.
4 The men who accompanied+ him were Sopater son of Pyrrhus, from Berea; from Thessalonica, Aristarchus and Secundus; Gaius, from Derbe, and Timothy; and from the province+ of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.
5 These men, having traveled on ahead, were waiting for us at Troas.
6 As for us, we set sail after the Festival of Unleavened Bread from Philippi+ and joined them in Troas within five days.+ We stayed in Troas+ for seven days.
7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to share in the fellowship meal and the Lord’s supper,+ Paul began to address the group,+ and because+ he was planning to leave the next day, he went on speaking+ until midnight.
8 Now there were quite a few lamps burning+ in the upstairs room where we were gathered,
9 and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on the windowsill, growing sleepier and sleepier+ as Paul talked on at length. When he was finally sound asleep,+ he fell from the third story to the ground and was picked up dead.
10 Paul went down and threw himself on the young man,+ and putting his arms around him, said, “Don’t be alarmed! He’s alive!+”+
11 Then going back upstairs and breaking bread and sharing in the meal,+ and talking with them for quite+ some time, until sunrise, that’s how he left.
12 And they took the boy home alive and were greatly relieved.+
“I Know That None of You Will Ever See Me Again”
13 As for us, going on ahead to the ship, we set sail for the city+ of Assos, where we were to take Paul aboard. (He had made this arrangement+ because+ he wanted to go there+ by land.)
14 When he met us in Assos, we took him aboard and went on to the city+ of Mitylene.
15 From there having set sail, the next day we arrived off the island+ of Chios. The following day we approached the island+ called Samos, and the day after that we reached the city+ of Miletus.
16 (Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so as not to lose any time in the province+ of Asia, because he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem, if at all+ possible,+ in time for the Festival of Weeks.+)
17 From Miletus Paul sent a message to Ephesus telling the elders of the assembly to come to him.+
18 When they arrived,+ he said to them, “ᵖYou yourselves know that from the first day I set foot in the province+ of Asia, I lived and worked among ᵖyou+ in the same manner until the very+ day I left,+
19 serving the Lord with the utmost humility and with tears despite+ the trials that befell me because of the plots of the unbelieving Jews,+
20 and+ that I didn’t shrink back from proclaiming to ᵖyou anything+ that would be helpful, or from teaching ᵖyou publicly and from house to house,
21 solemnly warning+ both Jews and Gentiles+ that they must turn to God+ in repentance and put their faith in our Lord Jesus.+
22 And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what it is+ in that city+ that awaits+ me.
23 I only know+ that the Holy Spirit keeps giving me strong warning in city after city,+ saying that it is+ imprisonment and suffering that lie ahead.+
24 Yet I do not consider my life worth even+ a single word;+ I only want+ to finish my course and carry out the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear solemn witness to the gospel about the gift of God.
25 And now I must say this:+ I know that none of ᵖyou among whom I went about proclaiming the Kingdom will ever see me+ again.
26 That is why I am solemnly declaring to ᵖyou, on this very day, that I am in no way+ responsible for anyone’s blood.+
27 For I did not shrink back from proclaiming to ᵖyou the whole plan of God.
28 Keep careful watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which+ ᵖyou were+ appointed overseers by the Holy Spirit, to shepherd God’s assembly, which he purchased with the blood of his own Son.+
29 I know that after I leave vicious+ wolves will come in among ᵖyou, not sparing the flock.
30 Even from among ᵖyour own number+ men will rise up and twist the truth in order to lure the disciples into following them.+
31 That is why ᵖyou must be watchful and alert, remembering that for three years it was+ night and day and day and night, with tears, that I never stopped warning each one of you.
32 And now I am entrusting ᵖyou to God and to the teaching+ about his gift, the teaching+ that is able to build you up+ and give you the inheritance with+ all+ those who have been set apart to God.
33 I have coveted no+ one’s silver or gold or fine+ clothing.
34 ᵖYou yourselves know that it is+ my own needs, as well as those of my companions, for which these hands have worked+ to provide.
35 I have shown ᵖyou in indeed+ every way that by this+ kind of hard work+ we must come to the aid of the weak, bearing in mind the words of the Lord Jesus:+ ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
36 And these things having said, kneeling down with them all, he prayed.
37 They all began to weep loudly,+ and throwing their arms around+ Paul, they bid him good-bye with a brotherly kiss,+
38 saddened especially by his statement+ that they would never see him+ again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.