1 And after the ceasing of the tumult, Paul having called near the disciples, and having embraced [them], went forth to go on to Macedonia; 2 and having gone through those parts, and having exhorted them with many words, he came to Greece; 3 and having continued three months—a counsel of the Jews having been against him—being about to set forth to Syria, there came [to him] a resolution of returning through Macedonia. 4 And there were accompanying him to Asia, Sopater of Pyrrhus from Berea, and of Thessalonians Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus, and of Asians Tychicus and Trophimus; 5 these, having gone before, remained for us in Troas, 6 and we sailed, after the days of the Unleavened [Bread], from Philippi, and came to them to Troas in five days, where we abided seven days. 7 And on the first [day] of the weeks, the disciples having been gathered together to break bread, Paul was discoursing to them, about to depart on the next day, he was also continuing the discourse until midnight, 8 and there were many lamps in the upper chamber where they were gathered together, 9 and there a certain youth was sitting, by name Eutychus, on the window—being borne down by a deep sleep, Paul discoursing long—he having sunk down from the sleep, fell down from the third story, and was lifted up dead. 10 And Paul, having gone down, fell on him, and having embraced [him], said, “Make no tumult, for his life is in him”; 11 and having come up, and having broken bread, and having tasted, for a long time also having talked—until daylight, so he went forth, 12 and they brought up the boy alive, and were comforted in no ordinary measure. 13 And we having gone before to the ship, sailed to Assos, there intending to take in Paul, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go on foot; 14 and when he met with us at Assos, having taken him up, we came to Mitylene, 15 and there having sailed, on the next day we came opposite Chios, and the next day we arrived at Samos, and having remained in Trogyllium, on the following day we came to Miletus, 16 for Paul decided to sail past Ephesus, that there may not be to him a loss of time in Asia, for he was hurrying, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem on the day of the Pentecost. 17 And from Miletus, having sent to Ephesus, he called for the elders of the assembly, 18 and when they were come to him, he said to them, “You know from the first day in which I came to Asia, how I was with you at all times; 19 serving the LORD with all humility, and many tears, and temptations, that befell me in the counsels of the Jews against [me]; 20 how I kept back nothing of what things are profitable, not to declare to you, and to teach you publicly, and in every house, 21 testifying fully both to Jews and Greeks, conversion toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I—bound in the Spirit—go on to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will befall me in it, 23 except that the Holy Spirit fully testifies in every city, saying that bonds and tribulations remain for me; 24 but I make account of none of these, neither do I count my life precious to myself, so that I finish my course with joy, and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify [to] the good news of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I have known that you will no longer see my face, among all you [to] whom I went preaching the Kingdom of God; 26 for this reason I take you to witness this day, that I [am] clear from the blood of all, 27 for I did not keep back from declaring to you all the counsel of God. 28 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit made you overseers, to feed the Assembly of God that He acquired through His own blood, 29 for I have known this, that there will enter in, after my departing, grievous wolves to you, not sparing the flock, 30 and there will arise men of your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore, watch, remembering that three years, night and day, I did not cease with tears warning each one; 32 and now, I commend you, brothers, to God, and to the word of His grace, that is able to build up, and to give you an inheritance among all those sanctified. 33 I coveted the silver or gold or clothing of no one; 34 and you yourselves know that to my necessities, and to those who were with me, these hands ministered; 35 I showed you all things, that, thus laboring, it is necessary to partake with the ailing, to also be mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said: It is more blessed to give than to receive.” 36 And having said these things, having bowed his knees, with them all, he prayed, 37 and there came a great weeping to all, and having fallen on the neck of Paul, they were kissing him, 38 sorrowing most of all for the word that he had said—that they are about to see his face no longer; and they were accompanying him to the ship.
Acts · Literal Standard Version
Acts 20 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Aristarchus
A Thessalonian who traveled with Paul, was seized in the Ephesus riot, sailed with him to Rome, and is called Paul's fellow prisoner.
Cited in the guide: Acts 19:29; Acts 20:4; Acts 27:2
Eutychus
A young man who fell asleep during Paul's long talk, fell from a third-story window, and was taken up dead; Paul embraced him and he was restored alive.
Cited in the guide: Acts 20:9
Gaius
Pyrrhus
Secundus
Sopater
A man from Berea, son of Pyrrhus, who accompanied Paul into Asia.
Cited in the guide: Acts 20:4
Trophimus
An Ephesian who accompanied Paul; Jews at Jerusalem falsely claimed Paul had brought him into the temple, and Paul later left him sick at Miletus.
Cited in the guide: Acts 20:4; Acts 21:29; 2 Timothy 4:20
Tychicus
A man from Asia who traveled with Paul; Paul calls him a beloved brother and faithful servant and sent him with letters to Ephesus, Colossae, and elsewhere.
Cited in the guide: Acts 20:4; Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7
Places
Ephesus
The chief city of Roman Asia, famed for the temple of Artemis. Paul's long ministry sparked the silversmiths' riot; the city is also the first addressed in Revelation.
Cited in the guide: Acts 19:1; Acts 19:28; Revelation 2:1
Jerusalem
Set high in the Judean hills (~2,500 ft), Jerusalem was David's royal city, the site of the First and Second Temples, and the stage for Jesus' passion and the church's birth at Pentecost.
Cited in the guide: 2 Samuel 5:6-9; Luke 19:41; Acts 1:8
Philippi
A Roman colony on the Via Egnatia and the site of Paul's first European converts — a beloved church to which he later wrote from prison.
Cited in the guide: Acts 16:12; Acts 16:25; Philippians 1:1
Miletus
Cross references (37)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Corinthians 7:5; Acts 19:21; 1 Timothy 1:3; Genesis 48:10; Romans 16:16
- 2 1 Thessalonians 4:1; Colossians 1:28; 1 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Thessalonians 2:11; Acts 20:11
- 3 Acts 20:19; 2 Corinthians 11:26; Acts 9:23–24; Acts 25:3; 2 Corinthians 7:5
- 4 Acts 19:29; Ephesians 6:21; 2 Timothy 4:20; Acts 16:1; Acts 21:29
- 5 Acts 16:8; 2 Corinthians 2:12; Acts 16:10–11; 2 Timothy 4:13; Acts 20:6–8
- 6 Acts 12:3; Exodus 12:14–15; Acts 16:12; Exodus 23:15; 2 Timothy 4:13
- 7 1 Corinthians 16:2; Acts 2:42; John 20:19; John 20:1; Revelation 1:10
- 8 Acts 1:13; Luke 22:12
- 9 Mark 13:36; Matthew 26:40–41; Mark 9:26; Jonah 1:5–6; Acts 14:19
- 10 Mark 5:39; John 11:40; Matthew 9:23–24; John 11:11; 1 Kings 17:21–22
- 11 Acts 20:7; Acts 20:9
- 12 2 Thessalonians 2:16; 2 Corinthians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; Isaiah 40:1; 1 Thessalonians 3:2
- 13 Mark 6:46; Mark 1:35; Mark 6:31–33
- 15 2 Timothy 4:20; Acts 20:17
- 16 1 Corinthians 16:8; Acts 2:1; Acts 19:21; Acts 20:6; Acts 18:21
- 17 1 Timothy 5:17; Acts 11:30; Titus 1:5; Acts 20:28; James 5:14
- 18 1 Thessalonians 1:5–6; Acts 19:1; Acts 18:19; Acts 19:10; 2 Thessalonians 3:7–9
- 19 Colossians 3:24; 2 Corinthians 2:4; 2 Corinthians 4:7–11; Romans 12:11; Acts 20:3
- 20 Acts 20:27; 2 Timothy 4:2; Acts 5:42; Acts 20:31; Colossians 1:28
- 21 Acts 2:38; 1 John 5:11–13; Acts 11:18; Luke 13:3; Luke 24:47
- 22 James 4:14; 2 Corinthians 5:14; Luke 18:31–33; 2 Peter 1:14; Luke 9:51
- 23 Acts 9:16; Acts 21:4; 1 Thessalonians 3:3; Acts 14:22; Acts 21:33
- 24 2 Timothy 4:6–8; 2 Corinthians 12:10; 2 Corinthians 4:1; 1 Corinthians 15:58; Acts 21:13
- 25 Acts 28:31; Acts 20:38; Matthew 4:23; Matthew 4:17; Matthew 10:7
- 26 Acts 18:6; John 12:17; Ezekiel 3:18–21; Ezekiel 33:2–9; 1 Thessalonians 2:10–12
- 27 Acts 20:20; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 2 Corinthians 4:2; Galatians 4:16; Jeremiah 23:22
- 28 1 Peter 5:2–3; 1 Timothy 4:16; 1 Peter 1:18–19; Isaiah 40:11; 1 Timothy 3:2
- 29 Matthew 7:15; 2 Peter 2:1; Luke 10:3; Acts 20:28; John 10:12
- 30 1 Timothy 1:19–20; 2 Timothy 4:3–4; Proverbs 23:33; 1 John 2:19; Proverbs 19:1
- 31 Acts 19:8; Acts 19:10; Acts 20:19; Ezekiel 3:17–20; Hebrews 13:17
- 32 Colossians 1:12; Ephesians 1:14; Acts 26:18; Colossians 3:24; Ephesians 1:18
- 33 2 Corinthians 11:9; 1 Corinthians 9:12; 1 Corinthians 9:18; 2 Corinthians 7:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:5
- 34 Acts 18:3; 1 Corinthians 4:12; 2 Thessalonians 3:8–9; Acts 19:22; 1 Thessalonians 2:9
- 35 Hebrews 13:16; Proverbs 19:17; 2 Corinthians 9:6–12; Luke 14:12–14; Matthew 10:8
- 36 Acts 21:5; Luke 22:41; Acts 7:60; Philippians 4:6; Daniel 6:10
- 37 2 Timothy 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 2 Corinthians 13:12; Luke 15:20; 1 Corinthians 16:20
- 38 Acts 15:3; Acts 20:25; 1 Corinthians 16:11; Acts 21:16; Acts 21:5
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
There was need of much comforting after that uproar. Accordingly, having done this, he goes into Macedonia, and then into Greece. For, it says, "when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and there abode three months.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 11 (1889)
Moreover, ye were all distinguished by humility, and were in no respect puffed up with pride, but yielded obedience rather than extorted it, and were more willing to give than to receive. Content with the provision which God had made for you, and carefully attending to His words, ye were inwardly filled with His doctrine, and His sufferings were before …
Therefore also with regard to Paul, that he wept, that he did so three years night and day, both he hath said of himself, and others say this of him; but that he laughed, neither hath he said himself anywhere, neither hath so much as one other of the saints, either concerning him, or any other like him; but this …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
From this what perverse and impious dogmas have been imagined! What grievous wolves, tearing the flock of the Lord, have sprung from these words to cast themselves upon souls!
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
Declaring this, Paul said, "Without were fightings, within were fears;" and, "In perils among false brethren;" and in his discourse to the Milesians too He said, "Also of you shall some arise speaking perverse things;" and He Himself too said, "The man's foes shall be they of his own household." But when He said, "It must needs be," it is …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)