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Acts 21

1When we had torn ourselves away from them and set sail, we made a straight course to Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2Finding a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we boarded and set sail. 3When we sighted Cyprus, we left it on our left and sailed to Syria, landing at Tyre, for the ship was to unload its cargo there. 4We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem. 5When our days there were over, we left and went on our way, and they all accompanied us with wives and children outside the city. Kneeling on the beach, we prayed 6and said farewell to one another. We boarded the ship, and they returned home.

7Completing the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, greeted the brothers, and stayed with them one day. 8The next day we left and came to Caesarea. We entered the house of Philip the proclaimer of good news, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9He had four virgin daughters who prophesied. 10While we stayed several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11He came to us, took Paul's belt, bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man whose belt this is and hand him over into the hands of the nations.’” 12When we heard this, both we and the local people urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14Since he would not be persuaded, we became quiet and said, “May the Lord's will be done.”

15After these days we prepared and went up to Jerusalem. 16Some of the disciples from Caesarea came with us, bringing us to Mnason, a Cypriot and an early disciple, with whom we would lodge. 17When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly. 18The next day Paul went with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19After greeting them, he recounted one by one the things God had done among the nations through his service. 20Hearing this, they glorified God and said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands among the Jews have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. 21They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews among the nations to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to the customs. 22What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23So do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow upon themselves. 24Take them, purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk in order, keeping the law. 25As for the nations who have believed, we sent our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, blood, what is strangled, and sexual immorality.” 26Then Paul took the men, and the next day, after purifying himself with them, he entered the temple, giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, when the offering would be presented for each of them.

27When the seven days were nearly completed, Jews from Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and laid hands on him, 28shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against the people, the law, and this place. Moreover, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 29For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city and supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30The whole city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him outside the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31As they sought to kill him, a report went up to the commander of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32At once he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. Seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33Then the commander approached, seized him, and ordered him bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done. 34Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another. Since he could learn nothing certain because of the uproar, he ordered him brought into the barracks. 35When Paul reached the steps, the soldiers had to carry him because of the crowd's violence, 36for the multitude of people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”

37As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” He said, “Do you know Greek? 38Then you are not the Egyptian who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the assassins into the wilderness?” 39Paul said, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I ask you, allow me to speak to the people.” 40When he allowed it, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great silence, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying:

Translation notes 5

21:4, 10–14 — Spirit and journey. The disciples speak “through the Spirit” and tell Paul not to go; this is not reduced to a merely human warning. Agabus predicts binding and handover, while the later narrative describes the participants in its own terms. The tension with Paul's resolve remains. “May the Lord's will be done” recalls Luke 22:42 without changing the speaker or adding Jesus' complete prayer.

21:8–9 — Philip and daughters. “Proclaimer of good news” expresses the role often called “evangelist.” Philip is identified as one of the seven from Acts 6. His four daughters are explicitly virgins and prophesy; no additional office or marital history is supplied.

21:20–26 — Law and purification. “Thousands” can also be rendered “tens of thousands.” The report that Paul teaches abandonment of Moses is what others have been told, not an unqualified narrator's verdict. Verse 26 describes advance notice of purification's completion and offerings. Its compressed time expression does not mean all the offerings were already completed before the arrest. The decision for believers from the nations recalls chapter 15 without imposing every difference in wording on that earlier passage.

21:27–36 — Accusation and arrest. The narrator explicitly identifies the alleged temple entry of Trophimus as a supposition. “Away with him!” recalls the hostile cry in Luke 23:18. The cohort's commander is a Roman military officer; centurions are officers commanding smaller units.

21:38–40 — Assassins and language. The assassins are literally dagger-men, often called Sicarii. The commander's mistaken identification is not affirmed by the narrator. “Hebrew language” follows the Greek designation; Aramaic is a common interpretation of the language intended.