Day 492 of 730

¹After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, took leave of them, and departed to go into Macedonia.

²When he had gone through those parts, and had encouraged them with many words, he came into Greece.

³When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia.

⁴He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus of Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians; Gaius of Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

⁵But these had gone ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas.

⁶We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and continued his speech until midnight.

⁸There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together.

⁹A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Paul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead.

¹⁰Paul went down, and fell upon him, and embracing him said, "Do not be troubled, for his life is in him."

¹¹When he had gone up, and had broken bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even until break of day, he departed.

¹²They brought the boy in alive, and were greatly comforted.

¹³But we who went ahead to the ship set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for he had so arranged, intending himself to go by land.

¹⁴When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard, and came to Mitylene.

¹⁵Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we landed at Samos, and the day after we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the church.

¹⁸When they had come to him, he said to them, "You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews;

²⁰how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house,

²¹testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.

²²Now, behold, I go bound by the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there;

²³except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.

²⁴But I make my life an account of nothing precious to myself, so that I may finish my race, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.

²⁵"Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about proclaiming the Kingdom, will see my face no more.

²⁶Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all men,

²⁷for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

²⁸Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

²⁹For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

³⁰Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

³¹Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.

³²Now I entrust you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

³³I coveted no one's silver, or gold, or clothing.

³⁴You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me.

³⁵In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

³⁶When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

³⁷They all wept a lot, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him,

³⁸sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

¹As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.

²My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

³My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, "Where is your God?"

⁴These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day.

⁵Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.

⁶My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.

⁷Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.

⁸The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime. In the night his song shall be with me: a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I will ask God, my rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"

¹⁰As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, "Where is your God?"

¹¹Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.

¹Do not boast about tomorrow; for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

²Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend; although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

⁷A full soul loathes a honeycomb; but to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.

⁸As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home.

⁹Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man's friend.

¹⁰Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend. Do not go to your brother's house in the day of your disaster: better is a neighbor who is near than a distant brother.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, then I can answer my tormentor.

¹²A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a stranger. Hold it for a wayward woman!

¹⁴He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse by him.

¹⁵A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike:

¹⁶restraining her is like restraining the wind, or like grasping oil in his right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend's countenance.

¹⁸Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored.

¹⁹As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man's eyes are never satisfied.

²¹The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his praise.

²²Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, yet his foolishness will not be removed from him.

²³Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds:

²⁴for riches are not forever, nor does even the crown endure to all generations.

²⁵The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, the grasses of the hills are gathered in.

²⁶The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are the price of a field.

²⁷There will be plenty of goats' milk for your food, for your family's food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.