17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called ⁱthe elders of the church to come to him. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them:

^j“You yourselves know ^khow I lived among you the whole time ^jfrom the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 ^lserving the Lord ^mwith all humility and with ⁿtears and with trials that happened to me through ^othe plots of the Jews; 20 how I ^pdid not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and ^qteaching you in public and from house to house, 21 ^rtestifying both to Jews and to Greeks of ^srepentance toward God and of ^tfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ.¹ 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained ^uby² the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that ^vthe Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that ^wimprisonment and ^xafflictions await me. 24 But ^yI do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only ^zI may finish my course and ^athe ministry ^bthat I received from the Lord Jesus, ^cto testify to ^dthe gospel of ^ethe grace of God. 25 And now, behold, ^fI know that none of you among whom I have gone about ^gproclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore ^hI testify to you this day that ⁱI am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for ^jI did not shrink from declaring to you ^kthe whole counsel of God. 28 ^lPay careful attention to yourselves and to all ^mthe flock, in which ⁿthe Holy Spirit has made you ^ooverseers, ^pto care for ^qthe church of God,³ which he ^robtained ^swith his own blood.⁴ 29 I ^rknow that after my departure ^tfierce wolves will come in among you, ^unot sparing the flock; 30 and ^vfrom among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore ^wbe alert, remembering that ^xfor three years I did not cease night or day ^yto admonish every one ^zwith tears. 32 And now ^aI commend you to God and to ^bthe word of his grace, which is able to ^cbuild you up and to give you ^dthe inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 ^eI coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. 34 ^fYou yourselves know that ^gthese hands ministered to my necessities and ^hto those who were with me. 35 In all things ⁱI have shown you that ^jby working hard in this way we must ^khelp the weak and ^lremember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed ^mto give than to receive.’”

36 And when he had said these things, ⁿhe knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And ^othere was much weeping on the part of all; ^pthey embraced Paul and ^pkissed him, 38 being sorrowful most of all because of ^qthe word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And ^rthey accompanied him to the ship.