Acts 20

₁When the people in the city of Ephesus stopped shouting, Paul called the believers and he encouraged them. He then said goodbye to them and he went to the province of Macedonia. ₂In Macedonia he encouraged the believers on his way and then he went to Greece. ₃He stayed there for 3 months and he wanted to sail to the province of Syria. Then someone told him that the Jews had made a secret plan to kill him. So he decided to go back to Macedonia first and then to Syria. ₄There were a few men who went with Paul. They were Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from the town of Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from the town of Thessalonica, Gaius from the town of Derbe, Timothy, Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. ₅Some of them went before us and they waited for us in the town of Troas. ₆After the Feast of the flat bread was over, we sailed away from the town of Philippi and 5 days later we were in the town of Troas where we met the other men, and we stayed there for 7 days.

₇On the first day of the week, in the night, we all came together and we ate bread and other food. Paul started to teach the believers and he wanted to leave the next day, so he talked for a very long time until the middle of the night. ₈We were all sitting in the room at the top of the stairs. There were a lot of lamps burning. ₉A young man by the name of Eutychus was sitting in the window and listening. When Paul kept on talking for so long, Eutychus got sleepy and he fell asleep. He fell out of the window from the 3rd_floor to the ground. The other believers tried to lift him up from the ground, but he was dead. ₁₀Paul went down to him and he bent over Eutychus. He took Eutychus in his arms and said to the believers: ‘Do not cry. He is not dead. He is alive.’

₁₁Then Paul went up to the room again. He ate some food and he started to talk again. He talked for a long time until the sun came up the next morning and then he went away. ₁₂The believers took Eutychus to his home. He was alive and that encouraged the believers a lot.

₁₃We sailed to the town of Assos and waited there for Paul. He wanted to walk to Assos. ₁₄When he met us at Assos, he got into the boat with us. Then we all sailed to Mitylene. ₁₅We sailed from there and the next day we came to a place near Chios and the day after that, we came to Samos. The next day we came to Miletus. ₁₆We did not stop at the city of Ephesus because Paul decided to sail past Ephesus. He did not want to stay in the province of Asia for a long time. He said we must hurry to get to Jerusalem because he wanted to be there on the day of Pentecost.

₁₇When we were in the town of Miletus, Paul sent a message to the elders of the church in the city of Ephesus. He asked them to come to him at the town of Miletus. ₁₈When the elders came to Paul, he said to them: ‘You know everything that I have done while I was with you, from the first day when I came to the province of Asia. ₁₉You know that I have served the Lord, that I was humble and that I have suffered a lot because the Jews made secret plans to kill me. ₂₀You know I have always tried to help you. I told you God's message and I have taught you, in the streets and in your homes. ₂₁I have talked to Jews and to Greeks and I told them to turn to God and to live as He wants, and that they must believe in our Lord Jesus.

₂₂Now I am going to Jerusalem. The Holy_Spirit wants me to go there and I must listen to Him and go. I do not know what will happen to me in Jerusalem. ₂₃But I know the Holy_Spirit has told me in every town that my people will put me in jail and I will suffer a lot. ₂₄But I am not worried about my own life. I just want to do the most important thing. I want to finish the work that the Lord has given me to do. Yes, I must tell people about the Good_News of the grace of God.

₂₅I was with you and I told you about God who is King. Now, I know that not one of you will see me again. ₂₆That is why I am telling you this and it is true: It is not my fault if one of you is lost to God. ₂₇I was not afraid. I told you everything about God's plan. ₂₈You must make sure that you live as God wants. You must also make sure that all the believers live as God wants you to live. The Holy_Spirit told you to be elders of the believers in Ephesus. You must help them like a shepherd cares for his sheep. They are God's church. His Son has given his blood and He died for them.

₂₉I know that false_teachers will come to you when I am gone. They will be like dangerous wolves that come to kill the sheep. ₃₀Yes, some of you will begin to say things that are wrong and not_true. They will tell other believers to follow them and no longer follow Jesus. ₃₁That is why you must be careful. You must remember that I have suffered for 3 years, and every day and every night I have told you to live in the right way.

₃₂And now I pray and I ask God that He will help you and care for you and that you will always remember the message of the love and grace of God. This message can make your faith strong and can help you to know that God will give you all the things that He has promised to all his believers. ₃₃I never wanted to take your money or clothes when I stayed with you. ₃₄You know that I have worked with my 2 hands to get money for food, for myself and for my friends who were with me. ₃₅I have done it all to show you that we have to work to help people who are not strong. We must also remember that the Lord Jesus said: “If you give something to other people, you will be much happier than when they give something to you.” ’

₃₆After Paul had finished talking, he and all the elders knelt down and prayed. ₃₇And they all cried a lot. They put their arms around Paul and kissed him. ₃₈They were very sad because Paul said they would not see him again. Then they walked with him to the boat.