Discovery BoxActs 20:26-38
Context20:26 Therefore I declare 1 to you today that I am innocent 2 of the blood of you all. 3 20:27 For I did not hold back from 4 announcing 5 to you the whole purpose 6 of God. 20:28 Watch out for 7 yourselves and for all the flock of which 8 the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, 9 to shepherd the church of God 10 that he obtained 11 with the blood of his own Son. 12 20:29 I know that after I am gone 13 fierce wolves 14 will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 20:30 Even from among your own group 15 men 16 will arise, teaching perversions of the truth 17 to draw the disciples away after them. 20:31 Therefore be alert, 18 remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning 19 each one of you with tears. 20:32 And now I entrust 20 you to God and to the message 21 of his grace. This message 22 is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 20:33 I have desired 23 no one’s silver or gold or clothing. 20:34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine 24 provided for my needs and the needs of those who were with me. 20:35 By all these things, 25 I have shown you that by working in this way we must help 26 the weak, 27 and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” 28
20:36 When 29 he had said these things, he knelt down 30 with them all and prayed. 20:37 They all began to weep loudly, 31 and hugged 32 Paul and kissed him, 33 20:38 especially saddened 34 by what 35 he had said, that they were not going to see him 36 again. Then they accompanied 37 him to the ship.
[20:26] 2 tn Grk “clean, pure,” thus “guiltless” (BDAG 489 s.v. καθαρός 3.a).
[20:26] 3 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] 4 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] 5 tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”
[20:28] 7 tn Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.
[20:28] 9 tn Or “guardians.” BDAG 379-80 s.v. ἐπίσκοπος 2 states, “The term was taken over in Christian communities in ref. to one who served as overseer or supervisor, with special interest in guarding the apostolic tradition…Ac 20:28.” This functional term describes the role of the elders (see v. 17). They were to guard and shepherd the congregation.
[20:28] 10 tc The reading “of God” (τοῦ θεοῦ, tou qeou) is found in א B 614 1175 1505 al vg sy; other witnesses have “of the Lord” (τοῦ κυρίου, tou kuriou) here (so Ì74 A C* D E Ψ 33 1739 al co), while the majority of the later minuscule
[20:28] 12 tn Or “with his own blood”; Grk “with the blood of his own.” The genitive construction could be taken in two ways: (1) as an attributive genitive (second attributive position) meaning “his own blood”; or (2) as a possessive genitive, “with the blood of his own.” In this case the referent is the Son, and the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. See further C. F. DeVine, “The Blood of God,” CBQ 9 (1947): 381-408.
[20:29] 13 tn Grk “after my departure.”
[20:29] 14 tn That is, people like fierce wolves. See BDAG 167-68 s.v. βαρύς 4 on the term translated “fierce.” The battle that will follow would be a savage one.
[20:30] 15 tn Grk “from among yourselves.”
[20:30] 16 tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only rarely is used in a generic sense to refer to both males and females. Since Paul is speaking to the Ephesian elders at this point and there is nothing in the context to suggest women were included in that group (“from among your own group”), it is most likely Paul was not predicting that these false teachers would include women.
[20:30] 17 tn Grk “speaking crooked things”; BDAG 237 s.v. διαστρέφω 2 has “λαλεῖν διεστραμμένα teach perversions (of the truth) Ac 20:30.”
[20:31] 18 tn Or “be watchful.”
[20:31] 19 tn Or “admonishing.”
[20:32] 20 tn Or “commend.” BDAG 772 s.v. παρατίθημι 3.b has “τινά τινι entrust someone to the care or protection of someone…Of divine protection παρέθεντο αὐτοὺς τῷ κυρίῳ Ac 14:23; cp. 20:32.”
[20:32] 22 tn Grk “the message of his grace, which.” The phrase τῷ δυναμένῳ οἰκοδομῆσαι… (tw dunamenw oikodomhsai…) refers to τῷ λόγω (tw logw), not τῆς χάριτος (ths caritos); in English it could refer to either “the message” or “grace,” but in Greek, because of agreement in gender, the referent can only be “the message.” To make this clear, a new sentence was begun in the translation and the referent “the message” was repeated at the beginning of this new sentence.
[20:33] 23 tn Traditionally, “coveted.” BDAG 371 s.v. ἐπιθυμέω 1 has “to have a strong desire to do or secure someth., desire, long for w. gen. of the thing desired…silver, gold, clothing Ac 20:33.” The traditional term “covet” is not in common usage and difficult for many modern English readers to understand. The statement affirms Paul’s integrity. He was not doing this for personal financial gain.
[20:34] 24 tn The words “of mine” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify whose hands Paul is referring to.
[20:35] 25 sn The expression By all these things means “In everything I did.”
[20:35] 26 tn Or “must assist.”
[20:35] 27 tn Or “the sick.” See Eph 4:28.
[20:35] 28 sn The saying is similar to Matt 10:8. Service and generosity should be abundant. Interestingly, these exact words are not found in the gospels. Paul must have known of this saying from some other source.
[20:36] 29 tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
[20:36] 30 tn Grk “kneeling down…he prayed.” The participle θείς (qeis) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
[20:37] 31 tn Grk “weeping a great deal,” thus “loudly” (BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός and BDAG 546 s.v. κλαυθμός).
[20:37] 32 tn Grk “fell on Paul’s neck” (an idiom, see BDAG 1014 s.v. τράχηλος).
[20:37] 33 sn The Ephesians elders kissed Paul as a sign of both affection and farewell. The entire scene shows how much interrelationship Paul had in his ministry and how much he and the Ephesians meant to each other.
[20:38] 35 tn Grk “by the word that he had said.”
[20:38] 36 tn Grk “to see his face” (an idiom for seeing someone in person).
[20:38] 37 tn BDAG 873 s.v. προπέμπω 1 has “they accompanied him to the ship Ac 20:38.”
