18
And when they came to him, he said to them:
1"You yourselves know
2how I lived among you the whole time
3from the first day that I set foot in Asia,
19
4serving the Lord
5with all humility and with
6tears and with trials that happened to me through
7the plots of the Jews;
20
how I
8did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and
9teaching you in public and from house to house,
21
10testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of
11repentance toward God and of
12faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
22
And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained
13by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there,
23
except that
14the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that
15imprisonment and
16afflictions await me.
24
But
17I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only
18I may finish my course and
19the ministry
20that I received from the Lord Jesus,
21to testify to
22the gospel of
23the grace of God.
25
And now, behold,
24I know that none of you among whom I have gone about
25proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.
26
Therefore
26I testify to you this day that
27I am innocent of the blood of all of you,
27
for
28I did not shrink from declaring to you
29the whole counsel of God.
28
30Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all
31the flock, in which
32the Holy Spirit has made you
33overseers,
34to care for
35the church of God, which he
36obtained
37with his own blood.
29
I
38know that after my departure
39fierce wolves will come in among you,
40not sparing the flock;
30
and
41from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31
Therefore
42be alert, remembering that
43for three years I did not cease night or day
44to admonish everyone
45with tears.
32
And now
46I commend you to God and to
47the word of his grace, which is able to
48build you up and to give you
49the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
33
50I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.
34
51You yourselves know that
52these hands ministered to my necessities and
53to those who were with me.
35
In all things
54I have shown you that
55by working hard in this way we must
56help the weak and
57remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said,
'It is more blessed 58to give than to receive.'"