Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders
17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called
1the elders of the church to come to him.
18
And when they came to him, he said to them:
2"You yourselves know
3how I lived among you the whole time
4from the first day that I set foot in Asia,
19
5serving the Lord
6with all humility and with
7tears and with trials that happened to me through
8the plots of the Jews;
20
how I
9did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and
10teaching you in public and from house to house,
21
11testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of
12repentance toward God and of
13faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
22
And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained
14by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there,
23
except that
15the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that
16imprisonment and
17afflictions await me.
24
But
18I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only
19I may finish my course and
20the ministry
21that I received from the Lord Jesus,
22to testify to
23the gospel of
24the grace of God.
25
And now, behold,
25I know that none of you among whom I have gone about
26proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.
26
Therefore
27I testify to you this day that
28I am innocent of the blood of all of you,
27
for
29I did not shrink from declaring to you
30the whole counsel of God.
28
31Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all
32the flock, in which
33the Holy Spirit has made you
34overseers,
35to care for
36the church of God, which he
37obtained
38with his own blood.
29
I
39know that after my departure
40fierce wolves will come in among you,
41not sparing the flock;
30
and
42from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31
Therefore
43be alert, remembering that
44for three years I did not cease night or day
45to admonish everyone
46with tears.
32
And now
47I commend you to God and to
48the word of his grace, which is able to
49build you up and to give you
50the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
33
51I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.
34
52You yourselves know that
53these hands ministered to my necessities and
54to those who were with me.
35
In all things
55I have shown you that
56by working hard in this way we must
57help the weak and
58remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said,
'It is more blessed 59to give than to receive.'"
36
And when he had said these things,
60he knelt down and prayed with them all.
37
And
61there was much weeping on the part of all;
62they embraced Paul and
63kissed him,
38
being sorrowful most of all because of
64the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And
65they accompanied him to the ship.