Acts 20
20
Chapter 20
Paul visits Macedonia and Greece again
1After that, the trouble in Ephesus finished. Then Paul asked the believers to meet together with him. He spoke to them to help them. He told them to be strong and to trust God. Then he said ‘goodbye’ to them. After that he left them and he travelled on to Macedonia. 2He visited many places in that region. He spoke to the believers in each place. He helped them to be strong. After that, he arrived in Greece. #20:2 We think that Paul visited Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea among other places.
3Paul stayed in Greece for three months. One day, he was preparing to travel to Syria by ship. But then he heard news that some Jews wanted to kill him on the journey. So he decided to travel through Macedonia and return to Jerusalem. #20:3 Many Jews travelled by ship from cities in Macedonia to Jerusalem for the Passover meal. Paul decided not to travel by ship because of the Jews. Instead, he travelled to Jerusalem by land and some other people went with him.
4These are the men who went with Paul: Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia region. 5These men had all left by ship before we did. When they arrived in Troas, they waited for us there. #20:5 We know that Luke was with Paul and the other believers on this journey.
6As for us, we sailed by ship from Philippi, after the festival when the Jews eat flat bread. #20:6 This was the week before the Passover meal. ‘Flat bread’ is bread which has no yeast in it. During the week of the Passover festival Jews did not eat any food that contained yeast. We think that Paul stayed in Philippi for the Passover festival. At this time they remembered the time when God caused Jesus to live again.
After five days we arrived in Troas. We met the other men there and we all stayed there for seven days.
Paul visits the believers in Troas for the last time
7On the Sunday evening, we met together with the believers. We broke bread into pieces and we shared it with each other. Paul spoke to the believers for a long time, until midnight. This was because he wanted to leave Troas the next day.
8Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room where we met together. 9A young man called Eutychus was at the meeting. He was sitting on the edge of a window. When Paul had talked for a long time, Eutychus started to sleep. When he was really sleeping, he fell out of the window. He dropped down a long way to the ground. Some of the believers lifted him up, but he was dead. 10So Paul went down the stairs to them all. He lay on top of the young man and held him with his arms. Then Paul said to them all, ‘Do not be afraid. He is still alive.’ 11Paul went back upstairs. He shared bread with the believers and he ate more food. Paul talked to them for a long time, until the sun rose in the morning. Then he left Troas.
12The other believers took Eutychus to his home. They were very happy because he was alive.
Paul travels from Troas to Miletus
13Paul decided to travel to Assos across the land. But we got on a ship and we sailed to Assos. We agreed with Paul that we would wait for him there. 14When he met us at Assos, he came on the ship with us. Then we all sailed to Mitylene. 15We sailed from there and we arrived the next day at the coast near Chios. The day after that, we came to Samos. The next day, we arrived at Miletus. 16Paul had decided to leave quickly from there. He did not want to visit Ephesus, because he did not want to remain in Asia for a long time. Instead, he wanted to travel to Jerusalem quickly. He wanted to arrive there before the day of the Pentecost festival.
Paul meets with the leaders of the believers
17When we were in Miletus, Paul sent someone to Ephesus with a message. This message was for the leaders of the believers in Ephesus. Paul asked them to come to Miletus to meet him there. 18When they arrived, Paul said to them, ‘You yourselves know about everything that I did here in Asia. You saw how I lived from the first day that I arrived in this region. I was with you for the whole time. 19I did not say that I was an important man. Instead, I worked as a servant of the Lord Jesus. I often was sad because of trouble that came to me. Some Jewish people spoke against my message. They wanted to hurt me. 20But I have not been afraid to teach God's message. I have taught you everything that would help you. I have done this outside for everyone to hear. I have also taught you in your own homes. 21I have taught the same things both to Jewish people and to Gentiles. I have said clearly to them all, “You must stop doing wrong things. Change the way that you live and turn to God. Believe in our Lord Jesus.”
22Now I am going to Jerusalem. God's Holy Spirit has shown me that I must go there. I do not know what will happen to me there. 23But I do know that much trouble will come to me. The Holy Spirit has told me about that. He said to me, “People will put you in prison and they will hurt you.” 24But even if people kill me, this is not important to me. The Lord Jesus gave me some work to do. It is important that I finish his work. I must tell people the good news about how kind and good God is.
25I have lived among you and I have taught you all about the kingdom of God. But now I know that none of you will see me again. 26So I want to say this clearly to you today. If any of you have not believed in Jesus, it is not because of me. 27I have told you everything that God wants you to know. 28You who are leaders should be careful about how you live. Also take care of the group of people that the Holy Spirit has chosen you to lead. Keep them safe like shepherds who take care of their sheep. All the believers belong to God because his Son, Jesus, died for them. He bought them with his blood which poured out on the cross.
29I know that trouble will come to you after I leave. Bad people will come to teach you. They will cause trouble for the believers, like dangerous wild animals that attack sheep. 30Even men from your own group of believers will teach things that are not true. They want to deceive other believers, so that they leave you and join with them. 31So be very careful! For three years I taught you, in the day and in the night. I warned you to be careful, so that I even cried about it.
32Now I ask God to keep you safe. I brought God's message to you, which tells us how kind he is. That message will cause you to be strong. As a result, God will give to you all the good things that he has for his own special people. 33When I stayed among you, I did not ask you to give me money or clothes. 34You yourselves know that I worked with my hands. I did that to get money. Then my friends and I could have the things that we needed. 35In this way I have shown you how you should live. You should work well so that you may help sick or weak people. You should remember what Jesus himself said: “It may make you happy when you receive things. But it makes you more happy when you give things to someone.” ’
36Then Paul finished speaking. He went down on his knees together with the leaders of the believers. He prayed with them all. 37They all cried a lot, because Paul wanted to leave them. They hugged him and they kissed him to say ‘goodbye’. 38They were very sad because Paul had said, ‘I will never see you again.’
After that, they walked with Paul to the ship.
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Acts 20: EASY
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