Acts 20–28

20TH CHAPTER

¹When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, said goodbye, and left for Macedonia. ²He went through that region and spoke many words of encouragement to the people. Then he went to Greece ³and stayed there for three months. 

Paul in Troas

When Paul was going to board a ship for Syria, he found out that the Jews were plotting to kill him. So he decided to go back through Macedonia. ⁴Sopater (son of Pyrrhus) from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia accompanied Paul. ⁵All these men went ahead and were waiting for us in Troas. ⁶After the Festival of Unleavened Bread, we boarded a ship at Philippi. Five days later we joined them in Troas and stayed there for seven days. 

⁷On Sunday we met to break bread. Paul was discussing ⸤Scripture⸥ with the people. Since he intended to leave the next day, he kept talking until midnight. ⁸(Many lamps were lit in the upstairs room where we were meeting.) 

⁹A young man named Eutychus was sitting in a window. As Paul was talking on and on, Eutychus was gradually falling asleep. Finally, overcome by sleep, he fell from the third story and was dead when they picked him up. ¹⁰Paul went to him, took him into his arms, and said, “Don’t worry! He’s alive!” ¹¹Then Eutychus went upstairs again, broke the bread, and ate. Paul talked with the people for a long time, until sunrise, and then left. 

¹²The people took the boy home. They were greatly relieved that he was alive. 

Paul’s Trip to Miletus

¹³We went ahead to the ship and sailed for the city of Assos. At Assos, we were going to pick up Paul. He had made these arrangements, since he had planned to walk overland to Assos. ¹⁴When Paul met us in Assos, we took him on board and went to the city of Mitylene. ¹⁵We sailed from there. On the following day we approached the island of Chios. The next day we went by the island of Samos, and on the next day we arrived at the city of Miletus. ¹⁶Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia. He was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, if that was possible. 

Paul Meets with the Spiritual Leaders from Ephesus

¹⁷From Miletus Paul sent messengers to the city of Ephesus and called the spiritual leaders^aof the church to meet with him ⸤in Miletus⸥. ¹⁸When they were with him, he said to them, “You know how I spent all my time with you from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. ¹⁹I humbly served the Lord, often with tears in my eyes. I served the Lord during the difficult times I went through when the Jews plotted against me. ²⁰I didn’t avoid telling you anything that would help you, and I didn’t avoid teaching you publicly and from house to house. ²¹I warned Jews and Greeks to change the way they think and act and to believe in our Lord Jesus. 

²²“I am determined to go to Jerusalem now. I don’t know what will happen to me there. ²³However, the Holy Spirit warns me in every city that imprisonment and suffering are waiting for me. ²⁴But I don’t place any value on my own life. I want to finish the race I’m running. I want to carry out the mission I received from the Lord Jesus—the mission of testifying to the Good News of God’s kindness.^b

²⁵“Now I know that none of you whom I told about God’s kingdom will see me again. ²⁶Therefore, I declare to you today that I am not responsible for the ⸤spiritual⸥ death of any of you. ²⁷I didn’t avoid telling you the whole plan of God. ²⁸Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishopsto be shepherds for God’s church which he acquired with his own blood. ²⁹I know that fierce wolves will come to you after I leave, and they won’t spare the flock. ³⁰Some of your own men will come forward and say things that distort the truth. They will do this to lure disciples into following them. ³¹So be alert! Remember that I instructed each of you for three years, day and night, at times with tears in my eyes. 

³²“I am now entrusting you to God and to his message that tells how kind he is. That message can help you grow and can give you the inheritance that is shared by all of God’s holy people. 

³³“I never wanted anyone’s silver, gold, or clothes. ³⁴You know that I worked to support myself and those who were with me. ³⁵I have given you an example that by working hard like this we should help the weak. We should remember the words that the Lord Jesus said, ‘Giving gifts is more satisfying than receiving them.’ ” 

³⁶When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down and prayed with all of them. ³⁷Everyone cried a lot as they put their arms around Paul and kissed him. ³⁸The thought of not seeing Paul again hurt them most of all. Then they took Paul to the ship. 

21ST CHAPTER

Paul in Tyre

¹When we finally left them, we sailed straight to the island of Cos. The next day we sailed to the island of Rhodes and from there to the city of Patara. ²In Patara, we found a ship that was going to Phoenicia, so we went aboard and sailed away. ³We could see the island of Cyprus as we passed it on our left and sailed to Syria. We landed at the city of Tyre, where the ship was to unload its cargo. 

⁴In Tyre we searched for the disciples. After we found them, we stayed there for seven days. The Spirit had the disciples tell Paul not to go to Jerusalem. ⁵When our time was up, we started on our way. All of them with their wives and children accompanied us out of the city. We knelt on the beach, prayed, ⁶and said goodbye to each other. Then we went aboard the ship, and the disciples went back home. 

Paul in Caesarea

⁷Our sea travel ended when we sailed from Tyre to the city of Ptolemais. We greeted the believers in Ptolemais and spent the day with them. ⁸The next day we went to Philip’s home in Caesarea and stayed with him. He was a missionary and one of the seven men who helped the apostles. ⁹Philip had four unmarried daughters who had the ability to speak what God had revealed. 

¹⁰After we had been there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea. ¹¹During his visit he took Paul’s belt and tied his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘This is how the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. Then they will hand him over to people who are not Jewish.’ ” 

¹²When we heard this, we and the believers who lived there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. 

¹³Then Paul replied, “Why are you crying like this and breaking my heart? I’m ready not only to be tied up in Jerusalem but also to die there for the sake of the Lord, the one named Jesus.” 

¹⁴When Paul could not be persuaded, we dropped the issue and said, “May the Lord’s will be done.” 

Paul in Jerusalem

¹⁵After that, we got ready to go to Jerusalem. ¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us. They took us to Mnason’s home, where we would be staying. Mnason was from the island of Cyprus and was one of the first disciples. ¹⁷When we arrived in Jerusalem, the believers welcomed us warmly. 

¹⁸The next day Paul went with us to visit James. All the spiritual leaders^awere present. ¹⁹After greeting them, Paul related everything God had done through his work with non-Jewish people. 

²⁰When the spiritual leaders heard about everything, they praised God. They said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews are now believers, and all of them are deeply committed to Moses’ Teachings. ²¹But they have been told that you teach all the Jews living among non-Jewish people to abandon Moses. They claim that you tell them not to circumcise their children or follow Jewish customs. ²²What should we do about this? They will certainly hear that you’re in town. ²³So follow our advice. We have four men who have made a vow to God. ²⁴Take these men, go through the purification ceremony with them, and pay the expenses to shave their heads. Then everyone will know that what they’ve been told about you isn’t true. Instead, they’ll see that you carefully follow Moses’ Teachings. 

²⁵⸤To clarify this matter⸥ we have written non-Jewish believers a letter with our decision. We told them that they should not eat food sacrificed to false gods, bloody meat, or the meat of strangled animals. They also should not commit sexual sins.” 

²⁶The next day, Paul took the men and went through the purification ceremony with them. Then he went into the temple courtyard to announce the time when the purification would be over and the sacrifice would be offered for each of them. 

²⁷When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the temple courtyard. They stirred up the whole crowd and grabbed Paul. ²⁸Then they began shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against the Jewish people, Moses’ Teachings, and this temple. He has even brought Greeks into the temple courtyard and has made this holy place unclean.”^b29They had seen Trophimus from Ephesus with him in the city earlier and thought Paul had taken him into the temple courtyard. 

³⁰The whole city was in chaos, and a mob formed. The mob grabbed Paul and dragged him out of the temple courtyard. The courtyard doors were immediately shut. 

³¹As the people were trying to kill Paul, the officer in charge of the Roman soldiers received a report that all Jerusalem was rioting. ³²Immediately, he took some soldiers and officers and charged the crowd. When the crowd saw the officer and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³Then the officer went to Paul, grabbed him, and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. 

The officer asked who Paul was and what he had done. ³⁴Some of the crowd shouted one thing, while others shouted something else. The officer couldn’t get any facts because of the noise and confusion, so he ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. ³⁵When Paul came to the stairs of the barracks, the crowd…