< Acts 21 >
1 So after disengaging ourselves from them we were able to set sail, and running a straight course we came to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.
2 We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail.
3 When we had sighted Cyprus we passed it on the left, sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, because it was there that the ship was to unload the cargo.
4 Upon finding disciples we stayed there seven days; these, through the Spirit, told Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.
5 But when our time was up, as we left to go on our way, they all, including women and children, accompanied us out of the city, and kneeling down on the beach, we prayed.
6 After we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship and they returned to their homes.
7 Now upon arriving in Ptolemais, the voyage from Tyre ended; so greeting the brothers we stayed with them one day.
8 Leaving the next day, we came to Caesarea; and entering the house of Philip the evangelist (being of ‘the Seven’), we stayed with him.
9 (This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.)
10 Now as we stayed there a number of days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
11 Joining us he took Paul's belt, bound his feet and hands, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit: ‘In this way, in Jerusalem, the Jews will bind the man who owns this belt, and will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”
12 Well, when we heard these things, both we and the local residents, we pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.
13 But Paul answered: “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
14 When he would not be dissuaded, we stopped, saying, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”
15 So after those days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.
16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us, bringing us to a certain Mnason, of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to lodge.
17 And when we arrived in Jerusalem the brothers received us gladly.
18 The next day Paul, with us, went to see James, and all the elders were present.
19 After greeting them he reported one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 But after listening they ‘glorified’ the Lord by saying to him: “You see, brother, how many tens of thousands are the Jews who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law;
21 but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to our customs.
22 What then? The assembly will certainly gather, since they will hear that you have come.
23 So do this that we say to you: There are four men with us who have taken a vow.
24 Take them and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that there is nothing to the things that they have been informed about you; rather that you yourself are in line, keeping the law.
25 But concerning the Gentiles who believe we have written, having judged that they need observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from that offered to idols, from the blood, from anything strangled, and from fornication.”
26 Then Paul took the men and purified himself with them; the next day he entered the temple to give notice of the completion of the days of purification, when the offering would be made for each one of them.
27 Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, having seen him in the temple, mobilized a whole crowd and seized him,
28 shouting: “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place. Not only that, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place!”
29 (They had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)
30 The whole city was aroused and a mob of people formed. So having seized Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.
31 As they were trying to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down among them, and when they saw the commander and the soldiers they stopped beating Paul.
33 Then the commander came up and took hold of him, commanded that he be bound with two chains, and started inquiring who he was and what he had done.
34 Well some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another; so when he could not ascertain the truth, because of the uproar, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks.
35 When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers, because of the violence of the mob.
36 Because the crowd kept following and shouting, “Away with him!”
37 As Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I speak to you?” So he said: “Do you know Greek?
38 Aren't you the Egyptian who some time ago started a revolt and led the four thousand men of ‘the Assassins’ out into the wilderness?”
39 But Paul said, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of a not insignificant city; but I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”
40 So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned to the people with his hand. When there was a great silence, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying:
