Acts 20:28

Paul charges the elders to guard themselves and the flock the Spirit made them overseers of, the church God purchased with His own blood. It is a foundational text on pastoral duty and the price of redemption.

Cross-references · 40

• 1 Pet 5:2–3Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly;
• 1 Tim 4:16Pay attention to yourself, and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
• 1 Pet 1:18–19knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,
• Isa 40:11He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
• 1 Tim 3:2The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;
• Acts 13:2As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”
• Jer 3:15I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
• 1 Cor 10:32Give no occasion for stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the assembly of God;
• Heb 13:17Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.
• Ps 78:70–72He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
• Eph 1:7in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
• Luke 12:32Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
• John 21:15–17So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
• Phil 1:1Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ; To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and servants:
• 1 Tim 5:17Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.
• 1 Tim 3:5(but if a man doesn’t know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the assembly of God?)
• Ezek 34:31You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, says the Lord Yahweh.
• Eph 1:14who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.
• Gal 1:13For you have heard of my way of living in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the assembly of God, and ravaged it.
• Mic 7:14Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest, in the middle of fertile pasture land, let them feed; in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
• 1 Tim 4:14Don’t neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the elders.
• Rev 5:9They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood, out of every tribe, language, people, and nation,
• Acts 20:17From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly.
• Isa 53:10–12Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
• 1 Pet 2:25For you were going astray like sheep; but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
• 1 Cor 15:9For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.
• 1 Cor 12:8–11For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit;
• Mic 5:4He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
• 1 Cor 1:2to the assembly of God which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:
• Song 1:7–8Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; For why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?
• Luke 21:34“So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.
• Ezek 34:3You eat the fat, and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you don’t feed the sheep.
• Col 4:17Tell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.”
• Titus 1:7For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;
• 1 Pet 2:9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
• Acts 14:23When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.
• 1 Cor 12:28–31God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.
• 1 Tim 3:15–16but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
• 1 Cor 9:26–27I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air,
• 1 Cor 11:22What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly, and put them to shame who don’t have? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’t praise you.

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.