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21
Paul, Luke and his other companions traveled from Miletus to Tyre.
Acts 21:1-3
1 After we said goodbye to the elders from Ephesus, we got on the ship and sailed to Cos Island, where the ship stopped for the night. The next day we sailed from Cos to Rhodes Island, where the ship stopped again. The day after that we sailed to Patara town, where the ship stopped. This was on Patara Island. 2 At Patara we left that ship, and someone told us that there was a ship that would be going to Phoenicia region. So we got on that ship, and it left. 3 We sailed until we could see Cyprus Island. We passed to the south of the island and continued sailing until we arrived at Phoenicia region, in Syria province. We arrived at Tyre city. The ship was going to stay there several days, because its workers had to unload the cargo.
At Tyre, believers warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem, but he went on anyway.
Acts 21:4-6
4 Someone told us where the believers in Tyre lived, so we (exc) went and stayed with them for seven days. Because God’s Spirit revealed to them ◄that people would cause Paul to suffer/Paul would suffer► in Jerusalem, they told Paul that he should not go there. 5 But when it was time for the ship to leave again, we prepared to continue going to Jerusalem. When we left Tyre, all the believers, including their wives and children, went with us to the edge of the sea. We all knelt down there on the sand/shore and prayed. 6 After we all said goodbye, Paul and we his companions got on the ship, and the other believers returned to their own homes.
Paul and his companions sailed from Tyre to Caesarea.
Acts 21:7-9
7 After we (exc) left Tyre, we continued on that ship to Ptolemais city. There were believers there, and we greeted them and stayed with them that night. 8 The next day we left Ptolemais and sailed to Caesarea city, where we stayed in the home of Philip, who spent his days telling others how to become disciples of Jesus. He was one of the seven men whom the believers in Jerusalem had chosen to care for the widows. 9 He had four daughters who were not married. Each of them frequently spoke messages that the Holy Spirit had revealed to them.
The believers could not persuade Paul from going on to Jerusalem.
Acts 21:10-14
10 After we(exc) had been in Philip’s house for several days, a believer whose name was Agabus came down from Judea district and arrived in Caesarea. He frequently spoke messages that the Holy Spirit had told him. 11 Coming over to where we were, he took off Paul’s belt. Then he tied his own feet and hands with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘The Jewish leaders [SYN] in Jerusalem will tie up the hands and feet of the owner of this belt, like this, and they will hand him over to non-Jewish people as a prisoner.’ ” 12 When the rest of us heard that, we and other believers there repeatedly pled with Paul, “Please do not go up to Jerusalem!” 13 But Paul replied, “◄Please stop crying and trying to discourage me [IDM] from going!/Why are you crying and trying to discourage me [IDM] from going?► [RHQ] I am willing to be put {for people to put me} in prison and also to be killed {for them to kill me} in Jerusalem because I serve [MTY] the Lord Jesus.” 14 When we(exc) realized that he was determined to go to Jerusalem, we did not try any longer to persuade him not to go. We said, “May ◄the Lord God do what he wants/the Lord’s will be done►!”
Paul and other believers went from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
Acts 21:15-16
15 After those days in Caesarea, we (exc) prepared our things and left to go by land up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the believers from Caesarea also went with us. On the way to Jerusalem, we stayed one night in the house of a man whose name was Mnason. He was from Cyprus Island, and he had believed in Jesus when people were first beginning to hear the message about him.
Paul agreed with church leaders to perform a Jewish purifying ritual.
Acts 21:17-26
17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, a group of the believers greeted us happily. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to speak with James, who was the leader of the congregation there. All of the other leaders/elders of the congregation in Jerusalem were also there. 19 Paul greeted them, and then he reported all of the things that God had enabled him to do among the non-Jewish people. 20 When they heard that, James and the other elders said, “Praise the Lord!” Then one of them said to Paul, “Brother/Friend, you (sg) know that there are very many thousands of us (inc) Jewish people here who have believed in the Lord Jesus. Also, you know that we (inc) all continue very carefully to obey the laws that Moses gave us. 21 But our fellow Jewish believers have been told {have heard people say} that when you are among non-Jews, you tell the Jewish believers who live there that they should stop obeying the laws [MTY] ◄of Moses/that Moses received from God►. People say that you tell those Jewish believers not to circumcise their sons and not to practice our other customs. We(exc) do not believe that this is true. 22 But our fellow Jewish believers will certainly hear that you have arrived, and they will be angry with you. So you need to do something [RHQ] to show them that what they heard about you is not true. 23 So you should do what we suggest to you. There are four men among us who have strongly promised to God about something. 24 Go with these men to the Temple and ritually purify yourself along with them. Then, when it is time for them to offer the sacrifices for that ritual, pay for what they offer as sacrifices. After that, they can shave their heads to show that they have done what they promised to do. And when people see you in the courts of the Temple with those men, they will know that what they have been told {what people have told them} about you is not true. Instead, all of them will know that you obey all our Jewish laws and rituals. 25 As for the non-Jewish believers, we elders here in Jerusalem have talked about which of our laws they should obey, and we (exc) wrote them a letter, telling them what we decided. We wrote that they should not eat meat that people have offered as a sacrifice to any idol, that they should not eat blood from animals, and that they should not eat meat from animals that people have killed by strangling them. We also told them that they should not have sex with someone to whom they are not married.” 26 So Paul agreed to do what they asked, and the next day he took the four men, and together they ritually purified themselves. After that, Paul went to the Temple courts and told the priest what day they would finish purifying themselves ritually and when they would offer the animals as sacrifices for each of them.
Some Jews seized Paul in the Temple courts.
Acts 21:27-30
27-29 When the seven days for purifying themselves were nearly finished, Paul returned to the Temple courtyard. Some Jews from Asia province saw him there, and they were very angry at him. On another day they had seen Paul walking around in Jerusalem with Trophimus, who was a non-Jew. Their laws did not permit non-Jews to be in the Temple, and they thought that Paul had brought Trophimus into the Temple courtyard that day. So they called out to many other Jews who were in the Temple courtyard to help them seize [MTY] Paul. They shouted, “Fellow Israelites, come and help us punish this man! This is the one who is constantly teaching people wherever he goes that they should despise the Jewish people. He teaches people that they should no longer obey the laws of Moses nor respect this holy Temple. He has even brought non-Jews here into the court of our Temple, causing God to consider it no longer holy!” 30 People throughout [MTY] the city heard that there was trouble at the Temple courtyard, and they came running there. They grabbed Paul and dragged him outside of the Temple area. The gates to the Temple courtyard were shut {The Temple guards shut the doors to the Temple courts} immediately, so that the people would not riot inside the Temple area.
Roman soldiers ran to where those Jews were trying to kill Paul.
Acts 21:31-32
31 While they were trying to kill Paul, someone ran to the fort near the Temple and told the Roman commander that many [HYP] people [MTY] in Jerusalem were rioting at the Temple. 32 The commander quickly took some officers and a large group of soldiers and ran to the Temple area where the crowd was. When the crowd of people who were yelling and beating Paul saw the commander and the soldiers coming, they stopped beating him.
After the commander arrested Paul, soldiers carried him towards the fort.
Acts 21:33-40
33 The commander came to where Paul was and seized him. He commanded soldiers to fasten a chain to each of Paul’s arms. Then he asked the people in the crowd, “Who is this man, and what has he done?” 34 Some of the many people there were shouting one thing, and some were shouting something else. Because they continued shouting so loudly, the commander could not understand what they were shouting. So he commanded that Paul be taken {the soldiers to take Paul} into the barracks so that he could question him there. 35 The soldiers led Paul to the steps of the barracks, but many people continued to follow them, trying to kill Paul. So the commander told the soldiers to carry Paul up the steps into the barracks. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Kill him! Kill him!”
37 As Paul was about to be taken {the soldiers were about to take Paul} into the barracks, he said in Greek to the commander, “May I speak to you?” The commander said, “◄I am surprised that you can speak the Greek language!/Can you (sg) speak the Greek language?►” [RHQ] 38 “◄I thought that you (sg) were that fellow/Are you not that fellow► from Egypt [RHQ] who wanted to rebel against the government not long ago, and who took 4,000 violent terrorists with him out into the desert, so that we could not catch him?” 39 Paul answered, “No, I am not! I am a Jew. I was born in Tarsus, which is an important [LIT] city in Cilicia province. I ask that you (sg) let me speak to the people.” 40 Then the commander permitted Paul to speak. So Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand for the crowd to be quiet. And after the people in the crowd became quiet, Paul spoke to them in their own Hebrew language [MTY].

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© 2008-2017 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.