Acts 20

After the riot had died down, Paul sent for the disciples. He encouraged them, said goodbye, and set out for Macedonia.

1And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia.

NoteThe uproar was the riot at Ephesus described in the previous chapter, when the silversmiths who made silver shrines of the goddess Artemis started a mob against Paul. "Disciples" is simply the ordinary word in Acts for followers of Jesus, the members of these young congregations, not a narrow inner circle.

2He traveled through that whole region, giving the believers there a great deal of encouragement, and then he came into Greece,

2And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece,

Note"Those parts" means Macedonia, the Roman province covering northern Greece, with the cities Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. "Greece" here means the southern province, Achaia, whose chief city was Corinth.

3where he stayed three months. He was about to sail for Syria when the Jews there laid a plot against him, so he decided to go back by way of Macedonia instead.

3And there abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia.

NoteSyria was the Roman province on the eastern Mediterranean coast; Judea was administered under it, so a ship for Syria was the normal way to travel toward Jerusalem. When Luke writes "the Jews" in passages like this he means the particular group of Jewish opponents in that city, not the whole people: Paul, his companions and most of his converts at this stage were Jews themselves.

4Traveling with him as far as the province of Asia were Sopater of Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, from Thessalonica; Gaius of Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus, from Asia.

4And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.

Note"Asia" in the King James Version never means the continent. It is the Roman province of Asia, occupying the western end of what is now Turkey, with Ephesus as its leading city. Berea and Thessalonica were in Macedonia, Derbe in the interior of Asia Minor: the group is a delegation drawn from the regions where Paul had preached.

5These men went on ahead of us and waited for us at Troas.

5These going before tarried for us at Troas.

NoteNotice the shift to "us." At several points the narrative of Acts switches from "they" to "we," and these stretches are usually taken to mean the writer was himself traveling with Paul at those times.

6We sailed from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and five days later we joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

6And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.

NoteThe days of unleavened bread were the seven day festival attached to Passover, when Jewish households ate bread made without yeast in memory of leaving Egypt in haste. The detail fixes the season: spring. Philippi lay inland, so they boarded at its port, Neapolis, about ten miles away.

7On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul was planning to leave the next day, so he spoke to them, and he kept on speaking until midnight.

7And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

Note"The first day of the week" is Sunday. Jewish days were counted from sunset to sunset, so by that reckoning this gathering would have begun on what we would call Saturday evening, which fits a meeting that ran past midnight and ended at dawn. To "break bread" is a plain Semitic expression for sharing a meal; among these believers the shared meal also carried the remembrance of Jesus' last supper with his followers.

8There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room where we were gathered.

8And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.

NoteThe lamps were small clay oil lamps, each giving little light, so many were needed. A crowded upper room with many lamps burning would grow hot, smoky and close, which is part of the scene the writer is setting for what happens next.

9A young man named Eutychus was sitting in a window, sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. Sound asleep at last, he fell from the third story, and they picked him up dead.

9And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

NoteWindows had no glass. A window was an unglazed opening in the wall, sometimes with a wooden shutter, so a person sitting in one was sitting on the edge of a drop. The "third loft" is the third story; in ancient cities ordinary people lived in the upper floors of tall tenement blocks, and the fall would have been twenty five feet or more. Note that Luke says flatly that he was picked up dead, while Paul's words in the next verse have been read both as a statement that life had returned and as a claim that he was never truly dead. The text does not settle it.

10Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, and put his arms around him. He said, "Do not be upset. He is alive."

10And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

NoteStretching himself over the body and taking it in his arms repeats, gesture for gesture, what Elijah and Elisha do when they revive dead boys in 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 4. A reader of the Hebrew scriptures would hear the echo at once.

11Then Paul went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. He talked with them a long while, until daybreak, and then he left.

11When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.

12They brought the young man in alive, and they were greatly comforted.

12And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.

13We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were to take Paul aboard. He had arranged it that way because he intended to travel there on foot.

13And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot.

NoteAssos was about twenty miles from Troas by the road across the neck of the peninsula, while a ship had to sail the long way around Cape Lectum. Paul could therefore walk and still reach the port before the ship did.

14When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene.

14And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.

15We sailed from there and the next day came to a point across from Chios. The day after that we reached Samos and stopped at Trogyllium, and the day after that we came to Miletus.

15And we sailed thence, and came the next day over against Chios; and the next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium; and the next day we came to Miletus.

NoteThese are the islands and harbors of the Aegean coast, worked southward one stage at a time. Coasting vessels normally sailed by day and put in at night, which is why the voyage is counted off in single days. Miletus lay about thirty miles south of Ephesus.

16Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in the province of Asia. He was in a hurry to be in Jerusalem, if he possibly could, by the day of Pentecost.

16For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

NotePentecost is Greek for "fiftieth." It was the Jewish harvest festival held fifty days after Passover, one of the three feasts at which Jews were expected to come up to Jerusalem, so the city would be packed with visitors. Counting from the unleavened bread of verse 6, Paul had roughly seven weeks to get there.

17From Miletus he sent word to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church, the leaders of the believers there.

17And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.

NoteThe Greek word is presbyteros, literally "older man," used for the recognized leaders of a congregation. The office was borrowed from the synagogue, where a board of elders governed. Verse 28 calls the same men "overseers."

18When they came to him, he said to them: "You know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia.

18And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,

19I served the Lord with complete humility and with many tears, through the hard trials that came on me because of the plots of the Jews.

19Serving the LORD with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:

NoteIn 1611 "temptations" meant trials or testings of any kind, including hardship and danger. It did not carry the narrower modern sense of enticement to do wrong.

20I held back nothing that would help you. I told it to you openly and taught you in public and from house to house.

20And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,

NoteThere were no church buildings. Believers met in private houses, so teaching "from house to house" means teaching in one household gathering after another, not door to door canvassing.

21I gave the same message to Jews and to Greeks: turn back to God, and put your trust in our Lord Jesus Christ.

21Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Note"Repentance" translates a Greek word meaning a change of mind that turns a person around, a reversal of direction. It is about turning, not primarily about feeling sorry.

22And now, bound by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, and I do not know what will happen to me there.

22And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:

Note"Bound in the spirit" is genuinely ambiguous in Greek. It can mean compelled or constrained by the Holy Spirit, or bound in his own spirit, that is, inwardly under a compulsion he cannot shake off. Translations divide on it.

23I know only that in city after city the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and hard suffering are waiting for me.

23Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.

Note"Holy Ghost" and "Holy Spirit" are the same words in Greek; in 1611 "ghost" simply meant spirit, and the King James translators used both forms. "Bonds" means chains or imprisonment, and "abide me" means await me.

24But none of this shakes me, and I do not count my own life as precious to me. I only want to finish my race with joy, and to complete the work the Lord Jesus gave me: telling people the good news of God's grace, his undeserved kindness.

24But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

Note"Finish my course" is an image from the footrace: to run the assigned distance to the end. "Gospel" translates a word meaning good news, the announcement a herald makes. "Grace" means favor freely given, not earned, which is why the rendering spells it out.

25And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about announcing the kingdom of God, will see my face again.

25And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.

Note"The kingdom of God" means God's reign or rule, the fact of his being king, rather than a territory with borders. Preaching the kingdom means announcing that this reign has arrived.

26So I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men.

26Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.

Note"Pure from the blood of all men" is an idiom taken from the Hebrew prophets. In Ezekiel 33 a watchman who sees danger coming and fails to sound the alarm is held answerable for the deaths that follow, while one who sounds it is clear whatever happens. Paul is saying no one's ruin can be charged to his silence.

27For I did not hold back from telling you the whole will of God.

27For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

Note"Shunned" here means shrank back or held back through fear. "The counsel of God" means his plan or settled purpose, not advice he gives.

28So keep watch over yourselves, and over the whole flock. The Holy Spirit has made you overseers of it, to care for the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

28Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Note"Overseers" translates episkopos, one who watches over, the word that later became the title "bishop." These are the same men called elders in verse 17. "To feed" translates a verb meaning to shepherd, covering everything a herdsman does for a flock, not feeding alone. The last phrase is doubly uncertain: the manuscripts differ between "the church of God" and "the church of the Lord," and the Greek behind "with his own blood" can equally be read "with the blood of his own," that is, of his own Son.

29I know that after I leave, fierce wolves will come in among you, and they will not spare the flock.

29For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

NoteWolves and flock are the standard imagery of shepherding, used throughout the Hebrew scriptures for leaders and the people in their charge. "Grievous" in 1611 meant savage or ferocious, not merely distressing.

30Even from your own number, men will stand up and twist the truth, in order to pull disciples away after themselves.

30Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

Note"Perverse things" renders a word meaning twisted or bent out of true. The picture is of straight teaching pulled crooked, not of moral depravity.

31So stay alert. Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped warning each one of you, and I did it with tears.

31Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

NoteActs 19 gives Paul about two years and three months at Ephesus. "Three years" is a round figure in the ancient manner of counting, where any part of a year could be counted as a year.

32And now, brothers, I place you in God's hands, and in the hands of the message of his grace. That message can build you up and give you a share in what belongs to all those who are made holy.

32And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Note"I commend you to God" means I hand you over, entrust you to his keeping. "Inheritance" translates a word meaning an allotted share, the same term used in the Hebrew scriptures for each tribe's portion of the land.

33I have not wanted anyone's silver or gold or clothing for myself.

33I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.

NoteClothing belongs in this list because in the ancient world good garments were a real store of wealth. They were expensive to make, they were handed down, and they were given and received as valuable gifts.

34You yourselves know that these hands of mine worked to supply what I needed, and what the men with me needed.

34Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.

NotePaul worked at a trade, tentmaking or leatherworking (Acts 18:3), to pay his own way and that of his companions rather than live on the support of the congregations. "Ministered unto my necessities" simply means supplied my needs.

35In everything I showed you that by working hard like this we ought to help those who are weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus himself, who said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

35I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

NoteThis saying of Jesus appears nowhere in the four gospels. It is one of the few sayings attributed to him that survived outside them and was quoted from memory in the churches.

36When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.

36And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.

NoteThe usual posture for prayer among Jews was standing. Kneeling marked prayer of unusual urgency or feeling, so the detail signals the weight of the moment.

37They all wept hard, and they threw their arms around Paul's neck and kissed him.

37And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him,

Note"Wept sore" means wept hard and openly. Falling on someone's neck and kissing him was the ordinary greeting and farewell between friends and family in that world, exchanged between men without the least romantic sense.

38What grieved them most was his saying that they would never see his face again. Then they went with him to the ship.

38Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.