Acts 20:19

20:19 serving the Lord with all humility ¹  and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me because of the plots ²  of the Jews.

Acts 20:23-24

20:23 except ³  that the Holy Spirit warns ⁴  me in town after town ⁵  that ⁶  imprisonment ⁷  and persecutions ⁸  are waiting for me. 20:24 But I do not consider my life ⁹  worth anything ¹⁰  to myself, so that ¹¹  I may finish my task ¹²  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news ¹³  of God’s grace.

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¹ sn On humility see 2 Cor 10:1; 11:7; 1 Thess 2:6; Col 3:12; Eph 4:2; Phil 2:3-11.

² sn These plots are mentioned in Acts 9:24; 20:13.

³ tn BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except that…Ac 20:23.”

⁴ 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).

⁵ tn The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).

⁶ tn Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

⁷ tn Grk “bonds.”

⁸ tn Or “troubles,” “suffering.” See Acts 19:21; 21:4, 11.

⁹ tn Grk “soul.”

¹⁰ 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’).”

¹¹ tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”

¹² 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.

¹³ tn Or “to the gospel.”