Acts 20:19

¹⁷ From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.

¹⁸ When they came to him, he said, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia.

I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, especially in the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews.

²⁰ I did not shrink back from declaring anything that was helpful to you as I taught you publicly and from house to house,

²¹ testifying to Jews and Greeks alike about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, especially in the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews.
KJV: Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:
WEB: serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews;
ASV: serving the Lord with all lowliness of mind, and with tears, and with trials which befell me by the plots of the Jews;
DARBY: serving the Lord with all lowliness, and tears, and temptations, which happened to me through the plots of the Jews;
BLB: serving the Lord with all humility and tears, and in trials having befallen me in the plots of the Jews;

ÅB: at jeg tjente Herren med all ydmykhet og under tårer og prøvelser som jeg måtte utstå ved jødenes etterstrebelser;
OTB: Jeg tjente Herren med stor ydmykhet og med tårer, og utholdt prøvelsene som kom over meg gjennom jødenes planer.
B1930: at jeg tjente Herren med all ydmykhet og under tårer og prøvelser som jeg måtte utstå ved jødenes efterstrebelser;

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Colossians 3:24
because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Read in context
2 Corinthians 2:4
For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.
Read in context
2 Corinthians 4:7–11
Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
Read in context
Romans 12:11
Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
Read in context
Acts 20:3
where he stayed three months. And when the Jews formed a plot against him as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.
Read in context
2 Corinthians 7:5
For when we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were pressed from every direction—conflicts on the outside, fears within.
Read in context
2 Corinthians 12:7–10
or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
Read in context
Acts 14:19–20
Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, presuming he was dead.
Read in context