1 A fter the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and warned and consoled and urged and encouraged them; then he embraced them and told them farewell and set forth on his journey to Macedonia.
2 T hen after he had gone through those districts and had warned and consoled and urged and encouraged the brethren with much discourse, he came to Greece.
3 H aving spent three months there, when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he resolved to go back through Macedonia.
4 H e was accompanied by Sopater the son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, and by the Thessalonians Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy, and the Asians Tychicus and Trophimus.
5 T hese went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas,
6 B ut we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them at Troas, where we remained for seven days.
7 A nd on the first day of the week, when we were assembled together to break bread '> the Lord’s Supper], Paul discoursed with them, intending to leave the next morning; and he kept on with his message until midnight.
8 N ow there were numerous lights in the upper room where we were assembled,
9 A nd there was a young man named Eutychus sitting in the window. He was borne down with deep sleep as Paul kept on talking still longer, and completely overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.
10 B ut Paul went down and bent over him and embraced him, saying, Make no ado; his life is within him.
11 W hen Paul had gone back upstairs and had broken bread and eaten, and after he had talked confidentially and communed with them for a considerable time—until daybreak —he departed.
12 T hey took the youth home alive, and were not a little comforted and cheered and refreshed and encouraged.
13 B ut going on ahead to the ship, the rest of us set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for that was what he had directed, intending himself to go by land.
14 S o when he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and sailed on to Mitylene.
15 A nd sailing from there, we arrived the day after at a point opposite Chios; the following day we struck across to Samos, and the next day we arrived at Miletus.
16 F or Paul had determined to sail on past Ephesus, lest he might have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening on so that he might reach Jerusalem, if at all possible, by the day of Pentecost.
17 H owever, from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.
18 A nd when they arrived he said to them: You yourselves are well acquainted with my manner of living among you from the first day that I set foot in Asia, and how I continued afterward,
19 S erving the Lord with all humility in tears and in the midst of adversity (affliction and trials) which befell me, due to the plots of the Jews;
20 H ow I did not shrink from telling you anything that was for your benefit and teaching you in public meetings and from house to house,
21 B ut constantly and earnestly I bore testimony both to Jews and Greeks, urging them to turn in repentance '> that is due] to God and to have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ '> that is due Him].
22 A nd now, you see, I am going to Jerusalem, bound by the Spirit and obligated and compelled by the spirit, not knowing what will befall me there—
23 E xcept that the Holy Spirit clearly and emphatically affirms to me in city after city that imprisonment and suffering await me.
24 B ut none of these things move me; neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have obtained from the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news (Gospel) of God’s grace (His unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy).
25 A nd now, observe, I perceive that all of you, among whom I have gone in and out proclaiming the kingdom, will see my face no more.
26 T herefore I testify and protest to you on this day that I am clean and innocent and not responsible for the blood of any of you.
27 F or I never shrank or kept back or fell short from declaring to you the whole purpose and plan and counsel of God.
28 T ake care and be on guard for yourselves and the whole flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you bishops and guardians, to shepherd (tend and feed and guide) the church of the Lord or of God which He obtained for Himself with His own blood.
29 I know that after I am gone, ferocious wolves will get in among you, not sparing the flock;
30 E ven from among your own selves men will come to the front who, by saying perverse (distorted and corrupt) things, will endeavor to draw away the disciples after them.
31 T herefore be always alert and on your guard, being mindful that for three years I never stopped night or day seriously to admonish and advise and exhort you one by one with tears.
32 A nd now, I commit you to God. And I commend you to the Word of His grace. It is able to build you up and to give you inheritance among all God’s set-apart ones (those consecrated, purified, and transformed of soul).
33 I coveted no man’s silver or gold or garments.
34 Y ou yourselves know personally that these hands ministered to my own needs and those who were with me.
35 I n everything I have pointed out to you that, by working diligently in this manner, we ought to assist the weak, being mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, It is more blessed (makes one happier and more to be envied) to give than to receive.
36 H aving spoken thus, he knelt down with them all and prayed.
37 A nd they all wept freely and threw their arms around Paul’s neck and kissed him fervently and repeatedly,
38 B eing especially distressed and sorrowful because he had stated that they were about to see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.