Farewell to Ephesus

¹⁷ From Miletus he sent word to ^(A)Ephesus and called to himself ^(B)the elders of the church. ¹⁸ And when they came to him, he said to them,

“You yourselves know, ^(C)from the first day that I set foot in ^[a]Asia, how I was with you the whole time, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and trials which came upon me ^[b]through ^(D)the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ how I ^(E)did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was beneficial, and teaching you publicly and ^[c]from house to house, ²¹ solemnly ^(F)testifying to both Jews and Greeks of ^(G)repentance toward God and ^(H)faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. ²² And now, behold, bound by the ^[d]Spirit, ^(I)I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³ except that ^(J)the Holy Spirit solemnly ^(K)testifies to me in every city, saying that ^(L)chains and afflictions await me. ²⁴ But ^(M)I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may ^(N)finish my course and ^(O)the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to ^(P)testify solemnly of the gospel of ^(Q)God’s grace.

²⁵ “And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about ^(R)preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. ²⁶ Therefore, I ^[e]testify to you this day that ^(S)I am ^[f]innocent of the blood of all people. ²⁷ For I ^(T)did not shrink from declaring to you the whole ^(U)purpose of God. ²⁸ Be on guard for yourselves and for all ^(V)the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you ^[g]overseers, to shepherd ^(W)the church of God which ^(X)He ^[h]purchased ^[i]with His own blood.