Chapter 21
Arrival at Tyre. 1 [a]When we had taken leave of them we set
sail, made a straight run for Cos, and on the next day for Rhodes, and from
there to Patara. 2 Finding a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went on board and
put out to sea. 3 We caught sight of Cyprus but passed by it on our left and
sailed on toward Syria and put in at Tyre where the ship was to unload cargo. 4
There we sought out the disciples and stayed for a week. They kept telling Paul
through the Spirit not to embark for Jerusalem. 5 At the end of our stay we
left and resumed our journey. All of them, women and children included,
escorted us out of the city, and after kneeling on the beach to pray, 6 we bade
farewell to one another. Then we boarded the ship, and they returned home.
Arrival at Ptolemais and Caesarea. 7 We continued the voyage
and came from Tyre to Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed a day
with them. 8 On the next day we resumed the trip and came to Caesarea, where we
went to the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven,[b] and
stayed with him. 9 He had four virgin daughters gifted with prophecy. 10 We had
been there several days when a prophet named Agabus[c] came down from Judea. 11
He came up to us, took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and
said, “Thus says the holy Spirit: This is the way the Jews will bind the owner
of this belt in Jerusalem, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles.”[d] 12
When we heard this, we and the local residents begged him not to go up to
Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my
heart? I am prepared not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the
name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 Since he would not be dissuaded we let the matter
rest, saying, “The Lord’s will be done.”[e]
Paul and James in Jerusalem. 15 After these days we made
preparations for our journey, then went up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the
disciples from Caesarea came along to lead us to the house of Mnason, a
Cypriot, a disciple of long standing, with whom we were to stay. 17 [f]When we
reached Jerusalem the brothers welcomed us warmly. 18 The next day, Paul
accompanied us on a visit to James, and all the presbyters were present. 19 He
greeted them, then proceeded to tell them in detail what God had accomplished
among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 They praised God when they heard it
but said to him, “Brother, you see how many thousands of believers there are
from among the Jews, and they are all zealous observers of the law. 21 They
have been informed that you are teaching all the Jews who live among the
Gentiles to abandon Moses and that you are telling them not to circumcise their
children or to observe their customary practices. 22 What is to be done? They
will surely hear that you have arrived. 23 [g]So do what we tell you. We have
four men who have taken a vow. 24 Take these men and purify yourself with them,
and pay their expenses[h] that they may have their heads shaved. In this way
everyone will know that there is nothing to the reports they have been given
about you but that you yourself live in observance of the law. 25 As for the
Gentiles who have come to believe, we sent them our decision that they abstain
from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals,
and from unlawful marriage.”[i] 26 So Paul took the men, and on the next day
after purifying himself together with them entered the temple to give notice of
the day when the purification would be completed and the offering made for each
of them.
Paul’s Arrest. 27 When the seven days were nearly completed,
the Jews from the province of Asia noticed him in the temple, stirred up the
whole crowd, and laid hands on him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us.
This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the
law and this place, and what is more, he has even brought Greeks into the
temple and defiled this sacred place.”[j] 29 For they had previously seen
Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and supposed that Paul had brought
him into the temple. 30 The whole city was in turmoil with people rushing
together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately
the gates were closed. 31 While they were trying to kill him, a report reached
the cohort commander[k] that all Jerusalem was rioting. 32 He immediately took
soldiers and centurions and charged down on them. When they saw the commander
and the soldiers they stopped beating Paul. 33 The cohort commander came
forward, arrested him, and ordered him to be secured with two chains; he tried
to find out who he might be and what he had done. 34 Some in the mob shouted
one thing, others something else; so, since he was unable to ascertain the
truth because of the uproar, he ordered Paul to be brought into the compound.
35 When he reached the steps, he was carried by the soldiers because of the
violence of the mob, 36 [l]for a crowd of people followed and shouted, “Away
with him!”
37 Just as Paul was about to be taken into the compound, he
said to the cohort commander, “May I say something to you?” He replied, “Do you
speak Greek? 38 So then you are not the Egyptian[m] who started a revolt some
time ago and led the four thousand assassins into the desert?” 39 Paul
answered, “I am a Jew, of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; I
request you to permit me to speak to the people.” 40 When he had given his
permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people;
and when all was quiet he addressed them in Hebrew.[n]
Footnotes
21:1–18 The third “we-section” of Acts (see note on Acts
16:10–17).
21:8 One of the Seven: see note on Acts 6:2–4.
21:10 Agabus: mentioned in Acts 11:28 as the prophet who
predicted the famine that occurred when Claudius was emperor.
21:11 The symbolic act of Agabus recalls those of Old
Testament prophets. Compare Is 20:2; Ez 4:1; Jer 13:1.
21:14 The Christian disciples’ attitude reflects that of Jesus
(see Lk 22:42).
21:17–26 The leaders of the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem
inform Paul that the Jews there believe he has encouraged the Jews of the
diaspora to abandon the Mosaic law. According to Acts, Paul had no objection to
the retention of the law by the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem and left the
Jews of the diaspora who accepted Christianity free to follow the same
practice.
21:23–26 The leaders of the community suggest that Paul, on
behalf of four members of the Jerusalem community, make the customary payment
for the sacrifices offered at the termination of the Nazirite vow (see Nm
6:1–24) in order to impress favorably the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem with
his high regard for the Mosaic law. Since Paul himself had once made this vow
(Acts 18:18), his respect for the law would be on public record.
21:24 Pay their expenses: according to Nm 6:14–15 the
Nazirite had to present a yearling lamb for a holocaust, a yearling ewe lamb
for a sin offering, and a ram for a peace offering, along with food and drink
offerings, upon completion of the period of the vow.
21:25 Paul is informed about the apostolic decree, seemingly
for the first time (see note on Acts 15:13–35). The allusion to the decree was
probably introduced here by Luke to remind his readers that the Gentile
Christians themselves were asked to respect certain Jewish practices deriving
from the law.
21:28 The charges against Paul by the diaspora Jews are
identical to the charges brought against Stephen by diaspora Jews in Acts 6:13.
Brought Greeks into the temple: non-Jews were forbidden, under penalty of
death, to go beyond the Court of the Gentiles. Inscriptions in Greek and Latin
on a stone balustrade marked off the prohibited area.
21:31 Cohort commander: literally, “the leader of a thousand
in a cohort.” At this period the Roman cohort commander usually led six hundred
soldiers, a tenth of a legion; but the number in a cohort varied.
21:36 “Away with him!”: at the trial of Jesus before Pilate
in Lk 23:18, the people similarly shout, “Away with this man.”
21:38 The Egyptian: according to the Jewish historian
Josephus, an Egyptian gathered a large crowd on the Mount of Olives to witness
the destruction of the walls of Jerusalem that would fall at the Egyptian
“prophet’s” word. The commotion was put down by the Roman authorities and the
Egyptian escaped, but only after thousands had been killed. Four thousand
assassins: literally, sicarii. According to Josephus, these were political
nationalists who removed their opponents by assassination with a short dagger,
called in Latin a sica.
21:40 In Hebrew: meaning, perhaps, in Aramaic, which at this
time was the Semitic tongue in common use.
Source Catholic Bible: New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)
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