Atos 20

BLIVRE · Chapter 20/28

1E tendo acabado o tumulto, Paulo chamou a si os discípulos e, abraçando-os, saiu para ir à Macedônia.

2E tendo passado por aquelas regiões, e exortando-os com muitas palavras, ele veio à Grécia.

3E ficando [ali] por três meses, e havendo contra ele uma cilada posta pelos judeus quando ele estava a ponto de navegar para a Síria, ele decidiu voltar pela Macedônia.

4E o acompanhou até a Ásia Sópater, de Bereia; e dos tessalonicenses, Aristarco e Segundo, e Gaio de Derbe, e Timóteo; e dos da Ásia, Tíquico e Trófimo.

5Estes, indo adiante, nos esperaram em Trôade.

6E depois dos dias dos [pães] não fermentados, nós navegamos de Filipos, e em cinco dias viemos até eles, onde ficamos por sete dias.

7E no primeiro [dia] da semana, tendo os discípulos se reunido para partir o pão, Paulo discutia com eles, estando para partir no dia seguinte; e ele estendeu a discussão até a meia noite.

8E havia muitas luminárias no compartimento onde estavam reunidos.

9E estando um certo rapaz, de nome Êutico, sentado em uma janela, tendo sido tomado por um sono profundo, [e] ,estando Paulo [ainda] falando por muito [tempo] ,[Êutico] ,derrubado pelo sono, caiu desde o terceiro andar abaixo; e foi levantado morto.

10Mas Paulo, tendo descido, debruçou sobre ele e, abraçando [-o] ,disse: Não fiqueis perturbados, porque sua alma [ainda] está nele.

11E [voltou] a subir, e tendo partido e experimentado o pão, ele falou longamente até o nascer do dia; e assim ele partiu.

12E trouxeram o rapaz vivo, e ficaram não pouco consolados.

13E nós, tendo ido adiante ao navio, navegamos até Assôs, onde estaríamos para receber a Paulo, porque assim ele tinha ordenado; e ele ia a pé.

14E quando ele se encontrou conosco em Assôs, nós o tomamos, e fomos a Mitilene.

15E navegando dali, chegamos no [dia] seguinte em frente a Quios; e no outro dia aportamos em Samos; e ficando em Trogílio, no dia seguinte viemos a Mileto.

16Porque Paulo tinha decidido navegar [desviando-se] de Éfeso, para não lhe haver de gastar tempo na Ásia; porque ele se apressava para estar em Jerusalém do dia de Pentecostes, caso lhe fosse possível.

17Mas ele enviou [mensagem] desde Mileto até Éfeso, chamando aos anciãos da igreja.

18E quando vieram a [Paulo] ,ele lhes disse: Vós sabeis que desde o primeiro dia que entrei na Ásia, [o modo] como eu estive todo [aquele] tempo convosco;

19Servindo ao Senhor com toda humildade, muitas lágrimas, e tentações, que sobrevieram a mim pelas ciladas dos judeus;

20Como eu, daquilo que [vos] era proveitoso, nada deixei de anunciar a vós, e ensinar publicamente e pelas casas;

21Dando testemunho, tanto a judeus como a gregos, do arrependimento para [se converter] a Deus, e da fé em nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo.

22E agora eis que, estando eu atado ao Espírito, estou indo a Jerusalém, não sabendo o que me acontecerá;

23A não ser pelo que o Espírito Santo em cada cidade [me] dá testemunho, dizendo que prisões e aflições me esperam.

24Mas de nenhuma [dessas] coisas eu dou importância, nem tenho minha vida por preciosa, para que com alegria eu cumpra minha carreira, e o trabalho que recebi do Senhor Jesus, para dar testemunho do Evangelho da graça de Deus.

25E agora, eis que eu sei que todos vós, a quem eu passei pregando o Reino de Deus, não vereis mais o meu rosto.

26Portanto eu vos dou claro testemunho de que eu estou limpo do sangue de todos [vós] ;

27Porque eu não deixei de vos anunciar todo o conselho de Deus;

28Portanto prestai atenção por vós mesmos, e por todo o rebanho sobre os quais o Espírito Santo tem vos posto como supervisores, para apascentardes a igreja de Deus, a qual ele adquiriu por meio de seu próprio sangue.

29Porque isto eu sei, que depois de minha partida, entrarão entre vós lobos cruéis, que não pouparão ao rebanho;

30E que dentre vós mesmos se levantarão homens a falarem coisas perversas, para atraírem após si aos discípulos.

31Por isso vigiai, lembrando que por três anos, noite e dia eu não parei de vos alertar com lágrimas a cada um [de vós] .

32E agora, irmãos, eu vos entrego a Deus, e à palavra de sua graça; ele que é poderoso para vos edificar e vos dar herança entre todos os santificados.

33Eu não cobicei de ninguém a prata, nem ouro, nem roupa.

34E vós mesmos sabeis que, para as minhas necessidades e as dos que estavam comigo, estas [minhas] mãos me serviram.

35Em tudo eu vos tenho mostrado que trabalhando assim, é necessário dar suporte aos enfermos; e lembrar-se das palavras do Senhor Jesus, que disse: Mais bem-aventurado é dar do que receber.

36E tendo dito isto, pondo-se de joelhos, ele orou com todos eles.

37E houve um grande pranto de todos; e reclinando-se sobre o pescoço de Paulo, beijavam-no;

38Entristecendo-se muito, principalmente pela palavra que ele tinha dito, que não mais veriam o rosto dele; e o acompanharam até o navio.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

In Troas, Paul raises the young man Eutychus back to life after he fell from a window while dozing off during Paul's lengthy sermon. Later, in Miletus, he tearfully bids farewell to the elders of Ephesus, warning of future dangers for the church.

Explanation

The Eutychus episode has a human touch and even a hint of humor: the young man falls asleep during a long sermon and falls from a third-story window — but Paul restores him to life with striking calm, without fanfare. The farewell speech at Miletus is one of Paul's most personal, revealing his pastoral heart: he warns of 'fierce wolves' who would arise to distort the faith, a timeless warning to all Christian leadership about vigilance. His closing quotation of Jesus — 'it is more blessed to give than to receive' — does not appear in the written Gospels, showing that not everything Jesus said was recorded there.

Fun facts

  • Paul's quotation 'it is more blessed to give than to receive' is a saying of Jesus that appears in none of the four Gospels — a rare example of a word of Jesus preserved only by oral tradition and recorded here.
  • Miletus was an important Greek port near Ephesus; Paul chose not to detour to Ephesus so as not to lose time, showing his urgency to reach Jerusalem in time for Pentecost.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Atos 20:1As soon as the uproar of the Ephesian craftsmen dies down, Paul embraces the disciples in farewell and leaves for Macedonia, resuming his interrupted journey.
  2. Atos 20:2Passing through Macedonia, Paul keeps encouraging the local churches with a great deal of teaching, before moving on to Greece.
  3. Atos 20:3After three months in Greece, Paul discovers a plot against him by the Jews just as he is about to sail for Syria, and for safety he decides to change his route, going back by land through Macedonia.
  4. Atos 20:4A list of traveling companions is recorded, coming from different cities Paul had already visited, showing how the network of churches he founded already had its own representatives traveling along with him.
  5. Atos 20:5This group of companions goes on ahead and waits for Paul to arrive at Troas, the agreed meeting point before the final crossing.
  6. Atos 20:6After the Jewish feast of unleavened bread, Paul sails from Philippi and takes five days to rejoin the group at Troas, where they stay another week.
  7. Atos 20:7The “first day of the week” is Sunday, the day Christians gradually adopted as their weekly gathering because it was the day of Jesus’s resurrection, although the Jewish Sabbath continued to be observed by many for quite some time still.
  8. Atos 20:8The setting of the gathering is described in detail: many lamps lit in the upstairs room where they were meeting, a detail that helps make sense of the accident that follows.
  9. Atos 20:9Eutychus dozes off during a long speech by Paul that stretches on until midnight, and falls from a high window. The account treats the fall as real and severe, not a mild fainting spell, since the text says he was picked up dead.
  10. Atos 20:10After Eutychus’s fatal fall, Paul goes down, falls on the young man, and embraces him, declaring that his life was still in him—a gesture and statement that precede the resurrection.
  11. Atos 20:11After tending to the young man, Paul goes back up, shares in the meal (“breaking bread”), and keeps talking with everyone until daybreak, before finally leaving.
  12. Atos 20:12The young man is brought back home alive, and the community is greatly comforted after the scare and the miracle.
  13. Atos 20:13The group of companions sails on to Assos, where they were to pick up Paul, who preferred to make that leg on foot, probably wanting some time to walk alone.
  14. Atos 20:14Paul joins them at Assos as planned, and the journey continues by ship to Mitylene, following the coast of Asia Minor.
  15. Atos 20:15The sea voyage continues in short stages, passing by Chios and Samos before reaching Miletus, a route of stops typical of ancient coastal navigation.
  16. Atos 20:16Paul tries to reach Jerusalem in time for Pentecost, an important Jewish feast, showing that he still organized his travel around the Jewish festival calendar even after years of preaching among the Gentiles.
  17. Atos 20:17Paul gathers the local leaders of Ephesus at a stopping point on the journey, without entering the city, probably so as not to lose time. It is an emotional farewell speech, given knowing he might never see them again.
  18. Atos 20:18When the Ephesian elders arrive, Paul begins by recalling his own conduct during the entire time he spent among them, a kind of accounting before the farewell.
  19. Atos 20:19Paul describes his ministry as full of humility, tears, and trials, caused by the constant plots of the Jews opposed to his preaching.
  20. Atos 20:20Paul assures them he never held back from teaching anything that was helpful, whether publicly or by visiting people from house to house.
  21. Atos 20:21Summing up his preaching in a single sentence, Paul says he always testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance and faith in Jesus.
  22. Atos 20:22Paul reveals that he now feels “bound in the spirit” to go to Jerusalem, even without knowing exactly what he will face there.
  23. Atos 20:23In every city he passes through, the Holy Spirit has been warning Paul that imprisonment and suffering await him in Jerusalem.
  24. Atos 20:24Despite the warnings, Paul declares that he does not value his own life more than completing the mission he received from Jesus: proclaiming the gospel of the grace of God.
  25. Atos 20:25Paul makes a personal and emotional prediction: he is certain that none of those leaders will see his face again after this farewell.
  26. Atos 20:26Paul declares himself free from any guilt for the salvation or ruin of those who heard his preaching, since he had done his part in proclaiming the full message.
  27. Atos 20:27He stresses that he never hid or softened any part of God’s teaching, even when it brought trouble or persecution.
  28. Atos 20:28“Bishops,” elders, and pastors are used here as synonyms describing the same local leadership role. The hierarchical distinction the word bishop would later gain in later centuries did not yet exist.
  29. Atos 20:29Paul warns that after he leaves, “grievous wolves” will come in, trying to harm the community—an image of false or destructive leaders.
  30. Atos 20:30The danger does not come only from outside: Paul warns that even from within the very group of leaders present, people will rise up distorting the teaching to draw away their own followers.
  31. Atos 20:31Paul calls for constant watchfulness, reminding them that for three whole years he himself never stopped warning each one of them, with tears, day and night.
  32. Atos 20:32In his farewell, Paul commits the leaders to the care of God and to the message of His grace, trusting that this would be enough to sustain them after he left.
  33. Atos 20:33Paul points out that he never coveted anyone’s money or possessions during his work among them, an important detail reinforcing his integrity.
  34. Atos 20:34Paul recalls that he supported himself and his companions with his own manual labor, likely tentmaking, without depending financially on the community.
  35. Atos 20:35This saying attributed to Jesus does not appear in any of the four written Gospels. It is an example of a teaching of Jesus passed down orally and preserved only here, in Paul’s speech.
  36. Atos 20:36After finishing his farewell speech, Paul kneels down and prays together with everyone present, closing the meeting solemnly.
  37. Atos 20:37The farewell is emotionally intense: everyone weeps freely, embraces Paul around the neck, and kisses him, a common gesture of affection and respect in the culture of the time.
  38. Atos 20:38What saddens the group most is the certainty, spoken by Paul himself, that they would not see his face again; even so, they accompany him to the ship before his final departure.

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