Acts 20

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Paul in Macedonia and Greece

¹ After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia. ² Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece ³ and stayed three months. And when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. ⁴ And Sopater of Berea accompanied him as far as Asia, and Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. ⁵ These men came and were waiting for us at Troas. ⁶ But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

Eutychus raised at Troas

⁷ Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. ⁹ And a certain young man named Eutychus, sitting in a window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on; and overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, "Do not be troubled, for his life is in him." ¹¹ Then he went up again, broke bread and ate, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, and so departed. ¹² And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.

From Troas to Miletus

¹³ Then we went to the ship and sailed to Assos, there intending to take Paul on board; for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot. ¹⁴ And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. ¹⁵ We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium. The next day we came to Miletus. ¹⁶ For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost.

Paul's farewell to the elders of Ephesus

¹⁷ From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the assembly. ¹⁸ And when they had come to him, he said to them, "You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, how I lived among you the whole time, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; ²⁰ how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, ²¹ testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward Elohim and faith toward our Lord Yeshua. ²² And now see, I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, ²³ except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. ²⁴ But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Yeshua, to testify to the gospel of the grace of Elohim. ²⁵ And now see, I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of Elohim, will see my face no more. ²⁶ Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean of the blood of all men. ²⁷ For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of Elohim. ²⁸ Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and Elohim, which He purchased with His own blood. ²⁹ For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. ³⁰ Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. ³¹ Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. ³² And now, brothers, I commend you to Elohim and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³ I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. ³⁴ Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my needs, and for those who were with me. ³⁵ I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Yeshua, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

³⁶ And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, ³⁸ sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

Notes

• 20:6 Luke dates this journey by "the Days of Unleavened Bread," the seven days of the feast that begins after Passover (Leviticus 23:6), and he dates the next stage by Shavuot (verse 16). Many understand that Paul kept the feast at Philippi before sailing; the appointed times were kept wherever Jews lived, and Luke's readers could reckon by them.
• 20:7 "The first day of the week" is mia tōn sabbatōn, literally "one of the Shabbats," the same expression used of the resurrection morning (see the notes at Matthew 28:1 and Luke 24:1). If Luke counts the day from evening, as the biblical day begins at sunset (Genesis 1:5), this gathering with lamps (verse 8) until midnight would be what is now called Saturday night, and Paul set out at daybreak (verse 11); some think Luke counts in the Roman way, which would make it Sunday evening. Luke tells of one gathering on the eve of Paul's departure; the verse does not call the day a Shabbat or a day of rest, and the believers also broke bread daily (2:46).
• 20:16 Pentecost, Greek for "fiftieth," is Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, counted fifty days from the waving of the first sheaf (Leviticus 23:15-16) and one of the three feasts when Israel went up to the place Yahweh chose (Deuteronomy 16:16). Paul hurried to be in Jerusalem for it, many years after the Spirit was poured out on the same feast (2:1-4).
• 20:28 The elders of verse 17 are here called "overseers" (episkopoi) and told to "shepherd" the flock, the picture of the shepherds of Israel in Ezekiel 34. "The assembly of the Lord and Elohim" is the reading of the Majority Text, which the TRB follows; many modern Bibles, following other manuscripts, read "the assembly of Elohim," and some "of the Lord." "Purchased" recalls Psalm 74:2, "Remember Your congregation, which You acquired of old."
• 20:30 Paul warns of danger from outside, "savage wolves" like the false prophets Yeshua spoke of (Matthew 7:15) and the officials of Ezekiel 22:27 who are "like wolves tearing the prey," and from inside, men from among the elders themselves "speaking perverse things" (diestrammena, "twisted"). Around AD 57, within the apostles' own lifetime, Paul expected the twisting of the teaching to begin.
• 20:35 These words of Yeshua are not written in the Gospels; Paul and the elders knew them from what the disciples remembered and passed on, as John says that Yeshua did many other things that are not written (John 21:25). They match His teaching about giving (Luke 6:38), and Paul gives them as the reason he worked with his own hands.

Acts 19 · Acts 21

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