Farewell to Ephesus

17 From Miletus he sent to aEphesus and called to him bthe elders of the church.

18 And when they had come to him, he said to them,

“You yourselves know, afrom the first day that I set foot in 1Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me 1through athe plots of the Jews;

20 how I adid not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and 1from house to house,

21 solemnly atestifying to both Jews and Greeks of brepentance toward God and cfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

22 “And now, behold, bound by the 1Spirit, aI am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

23 except that athe Holy Spirit solemnly btestifies to me in every city, saying that cbonds and afflictions await me.

24 “But aI do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may bfinish my course and cthe ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to dtestify solemnly of the gospel of ethe grace of God.

25 “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about apreaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.

26 “Therefore, I 1testify to you this day that aI am 2innocent of the blood of all men.

27 “For I adid not shrink from declaring to you the whole bpurpose of God.

28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all athe flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you 1overseers, to shepherd bthe church of God which cHe 2purchased 3with His own blood.

29 “I know that after my departure asavage wolves will come in among you, not sparing bthe flock;

30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away athe disciples after them.

31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of athree years I did not cease to admonish each one bwith tears.

32 “And now I acommend you to God and to bthe word of His grace, which is able to cbuild you up and to give you dthe inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

33 “aI have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.

34 “You yourselves know that athese hands ministered to my own needs and to the bmen who were with me.

35 “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

36 When he had said these things, he aknelt down and prayed with them all.

37 And 1they began to weep aloud and 2aembraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,

38 1grieving especially over athe word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were baccompanying him to the ship.