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Psalm 100

1  O be joyful in the Lord, all the earth; ♦︎
   serve the Lord with gladness
      and come before his presence with a song.
2  Know that the Lord is God; ♦︎
   it is he that has made us and we are his;
      we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
3  Enter his gates with thanksgiving
      and his courts with praise; ♦︎
   give thanks to him and bless his name.
4  For the Lord is gracious; his steadfast love is everlasting, ♦︎
   and his faithfulness endures from generation to generation.

¹⁴ Then the Lord will appear over them,
   and his arrow go forth like lightning;
the Lord God will sound the trumpet
   and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
¹⁵ The Lord of hosts will protect them,
   and they shall devour and tread down the slingers;^*
they shall drink their blood^* like wine,
   and be full like a bowl,
   drenched like the corners of the altar.

¹⁶ On that day the Lord their God will save them,
   for they are the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
   they shall shine on his land.
¹⁷ For what goodness and beauty are his!
   Grain shall make the young men flourish,
   and new wine the young women.

Restoration of Judah and Israel

10Ask rain from the Lord
   in the season of the spring rain,
from the Lord who makes the storm-clouds,
   who gives showers of rain to you,^*
   the vegetation in the field to everyone.
² For the teraphim^* utter nonsense,
   and the diviners see lies;
the dreamers tell false dreams,
   and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
   they suffer for lack of a shepherd.

Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

17 From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him. ¹⁸When 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, ¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. ²⁰I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house, ²¹as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus. ²²And now, as a captive to the Spirit,^* I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me. ²⁴But 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.

25 ‘And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again. ²⁶Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, ²⁷for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. ²⁸Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God^* that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.^{* 29}I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. ³⁰Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them. ³¹Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears. ³²And 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. ³³I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. ³⁴You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. ³⁵In 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.” ’

36 When he had finished speaking, he knelt down with them all and prayed. ³⁷There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, ³⁸grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again. Then they brought him to the ship.