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.

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