The Jewish Annotated New Testament (73 page)

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Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.”
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So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.

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About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way.
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A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans.
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These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business.
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You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods.
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And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”

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When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
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The city was filled with the confusion; and people
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rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions.
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Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him;
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even some officials of the province of Asia,
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who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater.
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Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
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Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people.
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But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
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But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven?
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Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.
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You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our
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goddess.
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If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another.
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If there is anything further
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you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly.
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For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.”
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When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

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After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples; and after encouraging them and saying farewell, he left for Macedonia.
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When he had gone through those regions and had given the believers
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much encouragement, he came to Greece,
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where he stayed for three months. He was about to set sail for Syria when a plot was made against him by the Jews, and so he decided to return through Macedonia.
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He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, by Gaius from Derbe, and by Timothy, as well as by Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia.
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They went ahead and were waiting for us in Troas;
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but we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

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On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight.
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There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting.
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A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead.
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But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”
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Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left.
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Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.

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We went ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there; for he had made this arrangement, intending to go by land himself.
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When he met us in Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene.
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We sailed from there, and on the following day we arrived opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos, and
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the day after that we came to Miletus.
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For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia; he was eager to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

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From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him.
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When they came to him, he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,
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serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.
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I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house,
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as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus.
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And now, as a captive to the Spirit,
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I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
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except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.
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But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.

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“And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again.
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Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,
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for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
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Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God
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that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.
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I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
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Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them.
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Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears.
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And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified.
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I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing.
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You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions.
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In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

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When he had finished speaking, he knelt down with them all and prayed.
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There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him,
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grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again. Then they brought him to the ship.

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When we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.
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When we found a ship bound for Phoenicia, we went on board and set sail.
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We came in sight of Cyprus; and leaving it on our left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there.
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We looked up the disciples and stayed there for seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.
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When our days there were ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed
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and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

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When we had finished
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the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais; and we greeted the believers
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and stayed with them for one day.
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The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him.
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He had four unmarried daughters
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who had the gift of prophecy.
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While we were staying there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
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He came to us and took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”
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When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.
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Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
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Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, “The Lord’s will be done.”