Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

¹⁷Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called ithe elders of the church to come to him. ¹⁸And when they came to him, he said to them:

j“You yourselves know khow I lived among you the whole time jfrom the first day that I set foot in Asia, ¹⁹lserving the Lord mwith all humility and with ntears and with trials that happened to me through othe plots of the Jews; ²⁰how I pdid not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and qteaching you in public and from house to house, ²¹rtestifying both to Jews and to Greeks of srepentance toward God and of tfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ.3 ²²And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained uby4 the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³except that vthe Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that wimprisonment and xafflictions await me. ²⁴But yI do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only zI may finish my course and athe ministry bthat I received from the Lord Jesus, cto testify to dthe gospel of ethe grace of God. ²⁵And now, behold, fI know that none of you among whom I have gone about gproclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. ²⁶Therefore hI testify to you this day that iI am innocent of the blood of all, ²⁷for jI did not shrink from declaring to you kthe whole counsel of God. ²⁸lPay careful attention to yourselves and to all mthe flock, in which nthe Holy Spirit has made you ooverseers, pto care for qthe church of God,5 which he robtained swith his own blood.6 ²⁹I rknow that after my departure tfierce wolves will come in among you, unot sparing the flock; ³⁰and vfrom among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹Therefore wbe alert, remembering that xfor three years I did not cease night or day yto admonish every one zwith tears. ³²And now aI commend 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. ³³eI coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. ³⁴fYou yourselves know that gthese hands ministered to my necessities and hto those who were with me. ³⁵In all things iI have shown you that jby working hard in this way we must khelp the weak and lremember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed mto give than to receive.’”

³⁶And when he had said these things, nhe knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷And othere was much weeping on the part of all; pthey embraced Paul and pkissed him, ³⁸being sorrowful most of all because of qthe word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And rthey accompanied him to the ship.

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