Acts 20:22-27

20:22 And now, ¹  compelled ²  by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem ³  without knowing what will happen to me there, ⁴  20:23 except ⁵  that the Holy Spirit warns ⁶  me in town after town ⁷  that ⁸  imprisonment ⁹  and persecutions ¹⁰  are waiting for me. 20:24 But I do not consider my life ¹¹  worth anything ¹²  to myself, so that ¹³  I may finish my task ¹⁴  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news ¹⁵  of God’s grace.

20:25 “And now ¹⁶  I know that none ¹⁷  of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom ¹⁸  will see me ¹⁹  again. 20:26 Therefore I declare ²⁰  to you today that I am innocent ²¹  of the blood of you all. ²²  20:27 For I did not hold back from ²³  announcing ²⁴  to you the whole purpose ²⁵  of God.

[20:22]  ¹ tn Grk “And now, behold.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.

[20:22]  ² tn Grk “bound.”

[20:22]  ³ sn This journey to Jerusalem suggests a parallel between Paul and Jesus, since the “Jerusalem journey” motif figures so prominently in Luke’s Gospel (9:51-19:44).

[20:22]  ⁴ tn BDAG 965 s.v. συναντάω 2 has τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ συναντήσοντα ἐμοὶ μὴ εἰδώς without knowing what will happen to me there Ac 20:22.”

[20:23]  ⁵ tn BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except that…Ac 20:23.”

[20:23]  ⁶ tn The verb διαμαρτύρομαι (diamarturomai) can mean “warn” (BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 2 has “solemnly urge, exhort, warn…w. dat. of pers. addressed”), and this meaning better fits the context here, although BDAG categorizes Acts 20:23 under the meaning “testify of, bear witness to” (s.v. 1).

[20:23]  ⁷ tn The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).

[20:23]  ⁸ tn Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[20:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “bonds.”

[20:23]  ¹⁰ tn Or “troubles,” “suffering.” See Acts 19:21; 21:4, 11.

[20:24]  ¹¹ tn Grk “soul.”

[20:24]  ¹² tn Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to BDAG 599 s.v. λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἄξιον [ἄξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”

[20:24]  ¹³ tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”

[20:24]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation – ‘task, mission’…Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6-7.

[20:24]  ¹⁵ tn Or “to the gospel.”

[20:25]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “And now, behold.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.

[20:25]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “all of you…will not see.” Greek handles its negation somewhat differently from English, and the translation follows English grammatical conventions.

[20:25]  ¹⁸ sn Note how Paul’s usage of the expression proclaiming the kingdom is associated with (and intertwined with) his testifying to the good news of God’s grace in v. 24. For Paul the two concepts were interrelated.

[20:25]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “will see my face” (an idiom for seeing someone in person).

[20:26]  ²⁰ tn Or “testify.”

[20:26]  ²¹ tn Grk “clean, pure,” thus “guiltless” (BDAG 489 s.v. καθαρός 3.a).

[20:26]  ²² tn That is, “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible” (an idiom). According to L&N 33.223, the meaning of the phrase “that I am innocent of the blood of all of you” is “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible.” However, due to the length of this phrase and its familiarity to many modern English readers, the translation was kept closer to formal equivalence in this case. The word “you” is not in the Greek text, but is implied; Paul is addressing the Ephesian congregation (in the person of its elders) in both v. 25 and 27.

[20:27]  ²³ tn Or “did not avoid.” BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 2.b has “shrink from, avoid implying fear…οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι I did not shrink from proclaiming Ac 20:27”; L&N 13.160 has “to hold oneself back from doing something, with the implication of some fearful concern – ‘to hold back from, to shrink from, to avoid’…‘for I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God’ Ac 20:27.”

[20:27]  ²⁴ tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”

[20:27]  ²⁵ tn Or “plan.”