Read the passage and its setting
Acts 20:32–20:38, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Acts 20:32–20:38
Grace, work, generosity, prayer, and grief close the farewell
The Main Point
Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
What Is Happening Here?
Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
What Came Before—and What Comes Next?
Acts 20:25–20:31 has just shown that Paul expects no further visit, declares his comprehensive teaching, charges Spirit-appointed overseers to attend to themselves and the church, warns of external and internal distorters, and recalls his tears.
Acts 21:1–21:6 will show that Paul's team sails to Tyre, stays with disciples who speak through the Spirit about Jerusalem, then departs after a communal beach prayer with families.
Follow the Witness from Jerusalem to Rome
See why this section appears here and how the author's witness movement leads to its meaning.
Why Is This Passage Here?
Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell. Here Acts advances the Jerusalem-to-Rome horizon while retaining the people and unresolved questions created by the prior scene.
Follow the Scene or Speech
Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
The unit distinguishes narrated event, participant speech, the narrator's framing, material uncertainty, and the ethical boundary: The farewell does not shame paid ministers, suppress grief, romanticize separation, or make one leader's work pattern compulsory.
What Is the Author Saying?
Why This Interpretation Fits
Unit movement
Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
Narrator and speech control
This address advances Acts' argument through narrated speech. Exact wording, selection, audience pressure, and later narrative confirmation remain part of the interpretation.
Material limit
The saying of Jesus is not in the canonical Gospels but is presented as remembered tradition; Paul's example supports accountable generosity without making unpaid labor universal.
Understand the Meaning and Its Boundaries
Clarify the words that matter and keep the conclusion no broader than the passage allows.
Words That Matter
Grace, work, generosity, prayer, and grief close the farewell
See the cited Greek text for the unit's individual expressions ·
This study phrase gathers the unit's narrated movement without claiming that it is one Greek lemma: Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
What the Passage Is Not Saying
Reading Acts 20:32–20:38 within Luke-Acts and the complete thought unit rules out this use:
The farewell does not shame paid ministers, suppress grief, romanticize separation, or make one leader's work pattern compulsory.
Context check: Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell. This address advances Acts' argument through narrated speech. Exact wording, selection, audience pressure, and later narrative confirmation remain part of the interpretation.
What Remains True Today
Faithful witness preserves the unit's narrated sequence, speaker and narrator distinction, Jewish and Gentile identities, affected people, and material uncertainty. The farewell does not shame paid ministers, suppress grief, romanticize separation, or make one leader's work pattern compulsory.
Respond and Remember
Let the meaning shape life carefully, then practice explaining the section in context.
How This Should Shape Us
Why these applications follow
Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell. This address advances Acts' argument through narrated speech. Exact wording, selection, audience pressure, and later narrative confirmation remain part of the interpretation.
Faithful witness preserves the unit's narrated sequence, speaker and narrator distinction, Jewish and Gentile identities, affected people, and material uncertainty. The farewell does not shame paid ministers, suppress grief, romanticize separation, or make one leader's work pattern compulsory.
What accountable response follows?
First identify the verse role and speaker within Acts 20:32–20:38; then state the contextual meaning—Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell. Preserve the proportionate truth that witness remains accountable to context, evidence, and affected people; finally apply this safeguard: The farewell does not shame paid ministers, suppress grief, romanticize separation, or make one leader's work pattern compulsory.
A Concrete Example
When Acts 20:32–20:38 is cited today, name the speaker, authority, people affected, evidence, and uncertainty before proposing an analogy; then test the proposed action against this boundary: The farewell does not shame paid ministers, suppress grief, romanticize separation, or make one leader's work pattern compulsory.
Teach It Back
Explain Acts 20:32–20:38 in your own words, naming its movement, speaker or narrator role, one source-controlled detail, one uncertainty, one affected person, and one conclusion the passage does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Go Deeper
The main explanation above stands on its own. Open these optional sections for fuller language, history, disagreements, and source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Narrative or speech movement
Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
Interpretive control
This address advances Acts' argument through narrated speech. Exact wording, selection, audience pressure, and later narrative confirmation remain part of the interpretation.
Ethical boundary
The farewell does not shame paid ministers, suppress grief, romanticize separation, or make one leader's work pattern compulsory.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
Grace, work, generosity, prayer, and grief close the farewell
This study phrase gathers the unit's narrated movement without claiming that it is one Greek lemma: Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
How certain? probableWhat the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Setting and recoverable limits
The saying of Jesus is not in the canonical Gospels but is presented as remembered tradition; Paul's example supports accountable generosity without making unpaid labor universal. Geography, chronology, social practice, Roman procedure, and institutional reconstruction are claimed only to the degree supported by the cited sources.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
Pinned KJV and Greek control
The pinned KJV remains the displayed text. SBLGNT, STEP morphology, and the NET notes were checked for Acts 20:32–20:38; older KJV wording is explained only where it materially affects understanding.
How certain? strongEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Israel's Scriptures and Jewish setting
Acts continues Israel's scriptural story through Jewish witnesses, synagogues, temple worship, Torah practice, diaspora communities, and contested interpretations. Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Luke-Acts and responsible canonical reading
Luke's first volume is the immediate literary horizon. Later canonical connections must preserve Acts 20:32–20:38's own sequence, Jewish setting, speakers, and unresolved questions.
How certain? strongTextual variantsManuscript differences only when they affect meaning
The inspected SBLGNT, NET notes, and where relevant Codex Bezae do not expose a variant that changes this unit's central movement; The saying of Jesus is not in the canonical Gospels but is presented as remembered tradition; Paul's example supports accountable generosity without making unpaid labor universal.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Which judgment needs visible uncertainty?
Best judgment: The saying of Jesus is not in the canonical Gospels but is presented as remembered tradition; Paul's example supports accountable generosity without making unpaid labor universal.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
Acts joins divine initiative, the Spirit, human witness, communal discernment, and accountable action in this movement: Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
God's action in Acts 20:32–20:38 is narrated as particular gift, judgment, guidance, or preservation; it is not a technique readers can control or a warrant for the misuse explicitly rejected here.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The farewell does not shame paid ministers, suppress grief, romanticize separation, or make one leader's work pattern compulsory.
A vivid event or line in Acts 20:32–20:38 can be detached from its narrator, speaker, first audience, ancient institutions, literary placement, and later Acts parallels.
Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell. This address advances Acts' argument through narrated speech. Exact wording, selection, audience pressure, and later narrative confirmation remain part of the interpretation.
Keep description distinct from command, actor interpretation distinct from authorial evaluation, and original setting distinct from faithful application.
Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Acts 20:32–20:38, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
SBLGNT official text, Acts 20:32-20:38
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 20:32-20:38
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 20:32–20:38
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'Co-operative Ministry,' Acts 18-20 study guide
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 20:32–20:38
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 20:32–20:38, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 20:32-20:38
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 20:32-20:38
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 20:32–20:38
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'Co-operative Ministry,' Acts 18-20 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 20:32–20:38
Open source ↗