Chapter 20

1After the uproar ended, Paul sent for the followers of Jesus and encouraged them. Then he said goodbye and left for Macedonia.

2He traveled through that region, giving the believers much encouragement. Then he came to Greece

3and stayed there for three months. As he was about to sail for Syria, a group of Jews plotted against him, so he decided to return through Macedonia.

4He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from the Roman province of Asia.

5These men went ahead and waited for us in Troas.

6We sailed from Philippi after the Jewish Festival of Unleavened Bread. Within five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

7On the first day of the week, we gathered to break bread and share a meal. Paul spoke with the believers because he planned to leave the next day, and he continued speaking until midnight.

8There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we had gathered.

9A young man named Eutychus was sitting in a window. As Paul kept speaking, Eutychus sank into a deep sleep. Overcome by sleep, he fell from the third floor and was picked up dead.

10Paul went downstairs, bent over him, and wrapped his arms around him. He said, “Do not be alarmed. His life is still in him.”

11Paul went back upstairs, broke the bread, and ate. He talked with them for a long time, until dawn, and then left.

12They took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

13We went ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we planned to take Paul aboard. He had arranged it this way because he intended to travel there on foot.

14When Paul met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went to Mitylene.

15We sailed from there and arrived opposite Chios the next day. The following day we reached Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus.

16Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not be delayed in the province of Asia. He was hurrying to reach Jerusalem by the Jewish Festival of Pentecost, if possible.

17From Miletus, Paul sent a message to Ephesus asking the elders who led the community of believers to come to him.

18When they arrived, Paul said to them, “You know how I lived among you the entire time, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia.

19“I served the Lord Jesus with complete humility, with tears, and through the hardships I faced because of plots by Jewish opponents.

20“I held back nothing that would help you. I proclaimed it to you and taught you both publicly and in your homes.

21“I urged both Jews and Greeks to turn back to God and to trust in our Lord Jesus.

22“Now I am going to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit. I do not know what will happen to me there,

23“except that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that imprisonment and suffering are waiting for me.

24“But I do not consider my life valuable to myself if only I can finish my race and complete the work I received from the Lord Jesus: to announce the good news of God’s generous kindness.

25“Now I know that none of you among whom I traveled announcing God’s rule will ever see my face again.

26“Therefore, I declare to you today that I am not responsible for anyone’s death,

27“because I did not hold back from telling you God’s entire purpose.

28“Watch yourselves and the entire flock. The Holy Spirit has appointed you as its guardians, to care for God’s community like shepherds. God made this community his own at the cost of his own Son’s blood.

29“I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

30“Even some men from your own group will arise and twist the truth to draw the followers of Jesus away after themselves.

31“So stay alert. Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.

32“Now I place you in God’s care and entrust you to the message about his generous kindness. That message can make you strong and give you the inheritance shared by all whom God has set apart for himself.

33“I have not desired anyone’s silver, gold, or clothing.

34“You yourselves know that these hands worked to provide for my needs and the needs of those who were with me.

35“In everything I did, I showed you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak. We must remember the words of the Lord Jesus, who said, ‘Giving brings greater happiness than receiving.’”

36After saying this, Paul knelt down and prayed with all of them.

37Everyone wept loudly. They threw their arms around Paul’s neck and kissed him warmly.

38What hurt them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.