20:31a

Therefore: In Greek this verse begins with a conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as Therefore. This indicates that what follows is what Paul wants his listeners to do as a result of the situation he has described in the previous verses.

be alert: This phrase means “be alert and watchful.” Like a watchman is alert for thieves, the church leaders are to be alert for those who teach lies and cause disunity among the believers. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

be alert (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Watch out! (New Living Translation (2004))

20:31b

remember: Here, remember means “think again about” or “do not forget.” They were to think again about Paul’s example of being alert and diligent.

that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears: Here Paul exaggerated in order to show that the warning was important. He repeated the warning many times, but he did not exclude all other activity.

In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that Paul did nothing else but warn them. If that is true in your language, you may want to translate the importance of the warning without the exaggeration. For example:

I continued constantly to warn each of you night and day with tears
-or-
I repeatedly warned each of you night and day with tears
-or-
day and night…I kept warning you with tears in my eyes (Contemporary English Version)

warning: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as warning can also mean “teach” or “gently rebuke.” There are three ways to interpret this word:

(1) It means warn here. For example:

to warn (New Revised Standard Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, New Century Version, King James Version)

(2) It means gently rebuke here. For example:

admonish (English Standard Version)

(Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, English Standard Version)

(3) It means teach here. For example:

instruct (God’s Word)

(Good News Translation, God’s Word)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because it best fits the context of 20:28–31.

night and day: This phrase indicates that Paul warned the believers often. The opportunities to warn them occurred both night and day.

with tears: To warn with tears implies that Paul was concerned for the believers in Ephesus as he warned their church leaders. He also was sad because he knew that false teachers would harm the faith of the believers. His tears showed that he felt strongly about warning them. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

I often cried over you (New Century Version)
-or-
at times with tears in my eyes (God’s Word)
-or-
I have shed-tears from my large love and pity for you
-or-
with tears ⌊over/regarding the trouble that they would experience⌋

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.