Acts 20
The full text of Acts 20 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, said goodbye, and set out for Macedonia.
2 He traveled through that region, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and then came to Greece,
3 where he stayed three months. Because the Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.
4 He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.
5 These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas.
6 But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later we joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.
7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.
8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.
9 A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window, sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead.
10 But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, and put his arms around him. "Do not be alarmed," he said. "He is still alive!"
11 Then he went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. He talked with them a long while, until daylight, and then left.
12 They took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.
13 We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had arranged this, because he was going there on foot.
14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene.
15 The next day we sailed from there and arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus.
16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.
17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.
18 When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia.
19 I served the Lord with all humility and with tears, through the trials that came on me from the plots of the Jews.
20 You know that I held nothing back that would be helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house.
21 I testified to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
22 And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.
23 I only know that in city after city the Holy Spirit warns me that imprisonment and hardships are facing me.
24 But I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.
25 And now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see my face again.
26 Therefore I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.
27 For I have not held back from proclaiming to you the whole plan of God.
28 Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
30 Even from your own number men will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw away the disciples after them.
31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
32 And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
33 I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing.
34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.
35 In everything I showed you that by working hard like this we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
36 When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.
37 They all wept openly as they embraced him and kissed him,
38 grieving most of all over his words that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
Translation notes (11)
- Acts 20:3a The three-month stay was probably spent at Corinth during the winter, when sea travel largely ceased. Because Acts 20:6 places the subsequent journey near Passover, the epiboule (ἐπιβουλή), 'plot', may have envisaged attacking Paul aboard a pilgrim ship crowded with Jewish travelers bound for the feast; the overland detour through Macedonia removed that opportunity.
- Acts 20:4a These companions likely served as delegates from the contributing churches, safeguarding the collection Paul was carrying to Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:1-4; Romans 15:26), with each region represented. The phrase 'son of Pyrrhus' appears in the earliest manuscripts but is absent from the later Byzantine text underlying the King James tradition.
- Acts 20:6a Greek meta tas hēmeras tōn azymōn, literally 'after the days of Unleavened Bread', dates the departure by the seven-day festival that follows Passover (Exodus 12:14-20), showing Luke reckoning time by the Jewish liturgical calendar. The first person plural also resumes here, indicating that the narrator has rejoined Paul's company at Philippi.
- Acts 20:7a Greek mia ton sabbaton (μία τῶν σαββάτων), literally 'the first of the sabbath', is an idiom counting the days from the Sabbath and denotes the first day of the week. This verse, with 1 Corinthians 16:2, is among the earliest evidence for Christian assembly on that day. The phrase klasai arton, 'to break bread', likely refers to a communal meal that included the Lord's Supper.
- Acts 20:9a Tristegon (τρίστεγον), 'third story', literally denotes a building of three levels; multi-storied dwellings with rented upper rooms were common in cities of the Roman east, and the church at Troas met in such an upstairs chamber (verse 8). Luke states plainly that Eutychus was picked up nekros, 'dead', not merely appearing so, which underscores the restoration that follows.
- Acts 20:16a Pentēkostē (πεντηκοστή), 'fiftieth', names the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), observed fifty days after Passover; it was one of the pilgrimage festivals drawing Jews from across the diaspora to Jerusalem. The rare verb chronotribēsai, literally 'to wear away time', underscores the pressure of the deadline on Paul's itinerary.
- Acts 20:22a This can also be translated "bound in my spirit." The Greek phrase to pneumati means "in the spirit" and leaves open whether Paul means the Holy Spirit's compulsion or his own inner resolve.
- Acts 20:24a The Greek dromos (δρόμος), 'race' or 'course', draws on the imagery of the Greek footrace, a metaphor Paul develops elsewhere (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Philippians 3:14) and returns to at the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4:7. The pairing here with diakonia, 'ministry', presents his apostolic commission as a fixed course to be run to its finish.
- Acts 20:28a Some manuscripts read "the church of the Lord," and some "the church of the Lord and God." The reading "of God" (Greek theou) is well supported in the earliest manuscripts.
- Acts 20:28b This can also be translated "with the blood of his own Son." The Greek phrase tou haimatos tou idiou can mean "his own blood" or, taking "his Own" as a title, "the blood of his Own One." If the text reads "God" in the first part of the verse, this translation raises the question of God having blood, which is part of why different readings exist in the manuscripts.
- Acts 20:35a This saying of Jesus is not recorded in the Gospels; Paul preserves it as a remembered word of the Lord.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Greek and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Acts, is free to read here on the web.
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