NLT Illustrated Study Bible - Book of Acts - Flipbook - Page 65
A cts 2 1 : 4 0
2021
21:21
Acts 16:3
Gal 2:3
21:23
Acts 18:18
21:24
Num 6:5, 1320
21:25
Acts 15:1929
21:26
Num 6:121
1 Cor 9:20
21:27
Acts 24:18; 26:21
21:28
Matt 24:15
Acts 6:13; 24:56
21:29
Acts 20:4
2 Tim 4:20
21:32
Acts 23:27
21:33
Acts 20:23
Eph 6:20
21:36
Luke 23:18
John 19:15
Acts 22:22
21:39
Acts 9:11; 22:3
21:40
Acts 26:14
lieved, and they all follow the law of Moses
very seriously. 21 But the Jewish believers
here in Jerusalem have been told that you
are teaching all the Jews who live among the
Gentiles to turn their backs on the laws of
Moses. They’ve heard that you teach them
not to circumcise their children or follow
other Jewish customs. 22 What should we do?
They will certainly hear that you have come.
23 “Here’s what we want you to do. We have
four men here who have completed their
vow. 24 Go with them to the Temple and join
them in the purification ceremony, paying
for them to have their heads ritually shaved.
Then everyone will know that the rumors
are all false and that you yourself observe
the Jewish laws.
25 “As for the Gentile believers, they should
do what we already told them in a letter:
They should abstain from eating food of
fered to idols, from consuming blood or the
meat of strangled animals, and from sexual
immorality.”
Paul Is Arrested
26 So Paul went to the Temple the next day
with the other men. They had already started
the purification ritual, so he publicly an
nounced the date when their vows would
end and sacrifices would be offered for each
of them.
27 The seven days were almost ended
when some Jews from the province of Asia
saw Paul in the Temple and roused a mob
against him. They grabbed him, 28 yelling,
“Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who
preaches against our people everywhere and
tells everybody to disobey the Jewish laws.
He speaks against the Temple—and even
defiles this holy place by bringing in Gen
tiles.*” 29 (For earlier that day they had seen
him in the city with Trophimus, a Gentile
from Ephesus,* and they assumed Paul had
taken him into the Temple.)
30 The whole city was rocked by these
accusations, and a great riot followed. Paul
was grabbed and dragged out of the Temple,
and immediately the gates were closed be
hind him. 31 As they were trying to kill him,
word reached the commander of the Roman
regiment that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
32 He immediately called out his soldiers and
officers* and ran down among the crowd.
When the mob saw the commander and the
troops coming, they stopped beating Paul.
33 Then the commander arrested him and
ordered him bound with two chains. He
asked the crowd who he was and what he had
done. 34 Some shouted one thing and some
another. Since he couldn’t find out the truth
in all the uproar and confusion, he ordered
that Paul be taken to the fortress. 35 As Paul
reached the stairs, the mob grew so violent
the soldiers had to lift him to their shoulders
to protect him. 36 And the crowd followed be
hind, shouting, “Kill him, kill him!”
Paul Speaks to the Crowd
37 As Paul was about to be taken inside, he
said to the commander, “May I have a word
with you?”
“Do you know Greek?” the commander
asked, surprised. 38 “Aren’t you the Egyptian
who led a rebellion some time ago and took
4,000 members of the Assassins out into the
desert?”
39 “No,” Paul replied, “I am a Jew and a citi
zen of Tarsus in Cilicia, which is an impor
tant city. Please, let me talk to these people.”
40 The commander agreed, so Paul stood on
the stairs and motioned to the people to be
quiet. Soon a deep silence enveloped the
crowd, and he addressed them in their own
language, Aramaic.*
21:28 Greek Greeks. 21:29 Greek Trophimus, the Ephesian. 21:32 Greek centurions. 21:40 Or Hebrew.
by demonstrating that he was not teach
ing Jews to turn their backs on the laws
of Moses. At the same time, no attempt
was made to force Jewish rules on Gen
tile converts—those terms had been set
previously (15:2229) and were simply to
be honored.
21:2636 The concerns of the Christian
leaders (21:2025) were evidently well
based, for when their vows were almost
completed, some Jews from the province
of Asia raised a mob against Paul with
false charges. They were intent on kill
ing Paul, but the Roman commander
rescued him.
21:2829 Gentiles: It was a crime pun
ishable by death to bring any non-Jew
into the Temple precincts beyond the
PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
Court of the Gentiles (see also Josephus,
War 5.5.2; 6.2.4). The Jews assumed
that Paul had violated this sacred law
by bringing Trophimus, a Gentile from
Ephesus; see also Acts 20:4; 2 Tim 4:20),
into the forbidden area.
21:30 This supposed desecration of the
Temple aroused the fury of the Jewish
populace. The Temple . . . gates were
closed because they thought the Temple
had been defiled by a Gentile.
21:31 commander: Or tribune, a Roman
officer who commanded 1,000 men.
21:34 The fortress of Antonia, a large
military garrison built by Herod the
Great on the northwest corner of the
Temple Mount, accommodated the
GOSPELS & ACTS
Roman cohort that was stationed there
to keep the peace.
21:3740 The commander had mistaken
Paul for an Egyptian false messiah who
had planned to seize power from the
Romans around ad 54 (roughly three
years earlier; see Josephus, War 2.13.5).
Paul corrected the mistake, gained
permission to speak to the people, and
addressed the crowd in Aramaic, the
common language of Judea. He gave a
strong statement of his faith in Jesus as
the Messiah (Acts 22:121).
L E T T E R S O F PAU L
OTHER LET TERS
