Paul Continues on to Jerusalem
Acts 21After we tore ourselves away from them, we set a straight course to Kos, then the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, so we went aboard and set sail. After we sighted Cyprus on the left side of the ship, we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, since the ship was to unload its cargo there. After we located the disciples, we stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit, they told Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem. When our time there was complete, we left and continued on our journey. All of them, including wives and children, escorted us out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach to pray, we said farewell to each other. Then we boarded the ship, and they returned to their homes.
When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. We greeted the siblings and stayed with them for a day. On the next day, we departed and came to Caesarea, where we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him. This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. After we had stayed there several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘The Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt, and will deliver him into the hands of the ethnic groups.’”
When we heard this, we and the people there begged Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul replied, “What are y’all 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.” When he would not be dissuaded, we kept quiet and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
After this we packed up and headed for Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us and brought us to Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we would stay.
Paul Meets the Elders in Jerusalem
When we arrived in Jerusalem, the siblings welcomed us with joy. The next day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. He greeted them and narrated every detail of how God worked among the ethnic groups through his deacon-work. When they heard this, they glorified God. They said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. They have been informed about you, that you teach all the Jews who live among the ethnic groups to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children and not to walk according to our customs. What is to be done? They’re certainly going to hear that you have come. Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and purify yourself with them, and pay for their expenses to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to the things they have been told about you, but that you yourself walk orderly in keeping the law. As for those among the ethnic groups who have believed, we have written our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”
The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went into the temple, giving notice of the completion of the purification days until the offering was made for each of them.
Paul Arrested at the Temple
When the seven days were almost over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and grabbed him, shouting, “Men of Israel, y’all need to help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place. Not only that, he even brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place!” (They had seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)
The whole city was provoked and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were closed. While they were trying to kill him, a report reached the commander of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in chaos. Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the commander came up and arrested him, and he ordered that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some of the crowd shouted one thing and some another, but when he couldn’t find out the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks.
When Paul got to the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, for the crowd of people followed them, shouting, “Get rid of him!”
Paul’s Public Defense
As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”The commander replied, “You speak Greek? Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?”
Paul answered, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. Please allow me to speak to the people.”
When he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Aramaic: