^20:18When they arrived, he said to them, “You yourselves know how I lived⁷⁴ the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot⁷⁵ in the province of Asia,⁷⁶^20:19serving the Lord with all humility⁷⁷ and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me because of the plots⁷⁸ of the Jews. ^20:20You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming⁷⁹ to you anything that would be helpful,⁸⁰ and from teaching you publicly⁸¹ and from house to house, ^20:21testifying⁸² to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.⁸³^20:22And now,⁸⁴ compelled⁸⁵ by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem⁸⁶ without knowing what will happen to me there,⁸⁷^20:23except⁸⁸ that the Holy Spirit warns⁸⁹ me in town after town⁹⁰ that⁹¹ imprisonment⁹² and persecutions⁹³ are waiting for me. ^20:24But I do not consider my life⁹⁴ worth anything⁹⁵ to myself, so that⁹⁶ I may finish my task⁹⁷ and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news⁹⁸ of God’s grace.

^20:25“And now⁹⁹ I know that none¹⁰⁰ of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom¹⁰¹ will see me¹⁰² again. ^20:26Therefore I declare¹⁰³ to you today that I am innocent¹⁰⁴ of the blood of you all.¹⁰⁵^20:27For I did not hold back from¹⁰⁶ announcing¹⁰⁷ to you the whole purpose¹⁰⁸ of God. ^20:28Watch out for¹⁰⁹ yourselves and for all the flock of which¹¹⁰ the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,¹¹¹ to shepherd the church of God¹¹² that he obtained¹¹³ with the blood of his own Son.¹¹⁴

Read in Logos

Acts 20:24: But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Footnotes

71 Miletus was a seaport on the western coast of Asia Minor about 45 mi (72 km) south of Ephesus.
72 The words “a message” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
73 The words “to him” are not in the Greek text but are implied. L&N 33.311 has for the verb μετακαλέομαι (metakaleomai) “to summon someone, with considerable insistence and authority—‘to summon, to tell to come.’ ”
74 Grk “You yourselves know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time.” This could be understood to mean “how I stayed with you the whole time,” but the following verses make it clear that Paul’s lifestyle while with the Ephesians is in view here. Thus the translation “how I lived the whole time I was with you” makes this clear.
75 Or “I arrived.” ἐπιβαίνω 2, “set foot in … εἰς τ. Ἀσίαν set foot in Asia Ac 20:18.” However, L&N 15.83 removes the idiom: “you know that since the first day that I came to Asia.”
76 Grk “Asia”; see the note on this word in v. .
77 On humility see 2 Cor 10:1; 11:7; 1 Thess 2:6; Col 3:12; Eph 4:2; Phil 2:3–11.
78 These plots are mentioned in Acts 9:24; 20:13.
79 Or “declaring.”
80 Or “profitable.” συμφέρω 2.b.α has “τὰ συμφέροντα what advances your best interests or what is good for you Ac 20:20,” but the broader meaning ( 2, “to be advantageous, help, confer a benefit, be profitable/useful”) is equally possible in this context.
81 Or “openly.”
82 διαμαρτύρομαι 1 has “testify of, bear witness to (orig. under oath) … of repentance to Judeans and Hellenes Ac 20:21.”
83 Several , including some of the more important ones (𝔓74 א Α C [D] E 33 36 323 945 1175 1241 1505 1739 and a number of versions), read Χριστόν (Christon, “Christ”) at the end of this verse. This word is lacking in B H L P Ψ 614 . Although the inclusion is supported by many earlier and better , internal evidence is on the side of the omission: In Acts, both “Lord Jesus” and “Lord Jesus Christ” occur, though between 16:31 and the end of the book “Lord Jesus Christ” appears only in 28:31, perhaps as a kind of climactic assertion. Thus, the shorter reading is to be preferred. Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. Note the twofold description of the message. It is a turning to God involving faith in Jesus Christ.
84 Grk “And now, behold.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.
85 Grk “bound.”
86 This journey to Jerusalem suggests a parallel between Paul and Jesus, since the “Jerusalem journey” motif figures so prominently in Luke’s Gospel (9:51–19:44).
87 συναντάω 2 has τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ συναντήσοντα ἐμοὶ μὴ εἰδώς without knowing what will happen to me there Ac 20:22.”
88 πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except that … Ac 20:23.”
89 The verb διαμαρτύρομαι (diamarturomai) can mean “warn” ( διαμαρτύρομαι 2 has “solemnly urge, exhort, warn … of pers. addressed”), and this meaning better fits the context here, although categorizes Acts 20:23 under the meaning “testify of, bear witness to” ( 1).
90 The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).
91 Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
92 Grk “bonds.”
93 Or “troubles,” “suffering.” See Acts 19:21; 21:4, 11.
94 Grk “soul.”
95 Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἅξιον [ἅξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”
96 1106 ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”
97 Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation—‘task, mission’ … Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19–26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6–7.
98 Or “to the gospel.”
99 Grk “And now, behold.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.
100 Grk “all of you … will not see.” Greek handles its negation somewhat differently from English, and the translation follows English grammatical conventions.
101 Note how Paul’s usage of the expression proclaiming the kingdom is associated with (and intertwined with) his testifying to the good news of God’s grace in v. 24. For Paul the two concepts were interrelated.
102 Grk “will see my face” (an idiom for seeing someone in person).
103 Or “testify.”
104 Grk “clean, pure,” thus “guiltless” ( καθαρός 3.a). I am innocent. Paul had a clear conscience, since he had faithfully carried out his responsibility of announcing to (the Ephesians) the whole purpose of God.
105 That is, “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible” (an idiom). According to L&N 33.223, the meaning of the phrase “that I am innocent of the blood of all of you” is “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible.” However, due to the length of this phrase and its familiarity to many modern English readers, the translation was kept closer to formal equivalence in this case. The word “you” is not in the Greek text, but is implied; Paul is addressing the Ephesian congregation (in the person of its elders) in both v. 25 and 27.
106 Or “did not avoid.” ὑποστέλλω 2.b has “shrink from, avoid implying fear … οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι I did not shrink from proclaiming Ac 20:27”; L&N 13.160 has “to hold oneself back from doing something, with the implication of some fearful concern—‘to hold back from, to shrink from, to avoid’ … ‘for I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God’ Ac 20:27.”
107 Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”
108 Or “plan.”
109 Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.
110 Grk “in which.”
111 Or “guardians.” ἐπίσκοπος 2 states, “The term was taken over in Christian communities in ref. to one who served as overseer or supervisor, with special interest in guarding the apostolic tradition … Ac 20:28.” This functional term describes the role of the elders (see v. 17). They were to guard and shepherd the congregation.
112 The reading “of God” (τοῦ θεοῦ, tou theou) is found in א B 614 1175 1505 vg sy; other witnesses have “of the Lord” (τοῦ κυρίου, tou kuriou) here (so 𝔓74 A C* D E Ψ 33 1739 co), while the majority of the later minuscule conflate these two into “of the Lord and God” (τοῦ κυρίου καὶ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, tou kuriou kai [tou] theou). Although the evidence is evenly balanced between the first two readings, τοῦ θεοῦ is decidedly superior on internal grounds. The final prepositional phrase of this verse, διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου (dia tou haimatos tou idiou), could be rendered “through his own blood” or “through the blood of his own.” In the latter translation, the object that “own” modifies must be supplied (see below for discussion). But this would not be entirely clear to scribes; those who supposed that ἰδίου modified αἵματος would be prone to alter “God” to “Lord” to avoid the inference that God had blood. In a similar way, later scribes would be prone to conflate the two titles, thereby affirming the deity (with the construction τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ following the Granville Sharp rule and referring to a single person [see , , ]) and substitutionary atonement of Christ. For these reasons, τοῦ θεοῦ best explains the rise of the other readings and should be considered authentic.
113 Or “acquired.”
114 Or “with his own blood”; Grk “with the blood of his own.” The genitive construction could be taken in two ways: (1) as an attributive genitive (second attributive position) meaning “his own blood”; or (2) as a possessive genitive, “with the blood of his own.” In this case the referent is the Son, and the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. See further C. F. DeVine, “The Blood of God,” 9 (1947): 381–408. That he obtained with the blood of his own Son. This is one of only two explicit statements in Luke-Acts highlighting the substitutionary nature of Christ’s death (the other is in Luke 22:19).