^21:27When the seven days were almost over,⁹⁵ the Jews from the province of Asia⁹⁶ who had seen him in the temple area⁹⁷ stirred up the whole crowd⁹⁸ and seized⁹⁹ him, ^21:28shouting, “Men of Israel,¹⁰⁰ help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law,¹⁰¹ and this sanctuary!¹⁰² Furthermore¹⁰³ he has brought Greeks into the inner courts of the temple¹⁰⁴ and made this holy place ritually unclean!”¹⁰⁵^21:29(For they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him previously, and¹⁰⁶ they assumed Paul had brought him into the inner temple courts.)¹⁰⁷^21:30The whole city was stirred up,¹⁰⁸ and the people rushed together.¹⁰⁹ They seized¹¹⁰ Paul and dragged him out of the temple courts,¹¹¹ and immediately the doors were shut. ^21:31While they were trying¹¹² to kill him, a report¹¹³ was sent up¹¹⁴ to the commanding officer¹¹⁵ of the cohort¹¹⁶ that all Jerusalem was in confusion.¹¹⁷^21:32He¹¹⁸ immediately took¹¹⁹ soldiers and centurions¹²⁰ and ran down to the crowd.¹²¹ When they saw¹²² the commanding officer¹²³ and the soldiers, they stopped beating¹²⁴ Paul. ^21:33Then the commanding officer¹²⁵ came up and arrested¹²⁶ him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains;¹²⁷ he¹²⁸ then asked who he was and what¹²⁹ he had done. ^21:34But some in the crowd shouted one thing, and others something else,¹³⁰ and when the commanding officer¹³¹ was unable¹³² to find out the truth¹³³ because of the disturbance,¹³⁴ he ordered Paul¹³⁵ to be brought into the barracks.¹³⁶^21:35When he came to the steps, Paul¹³⁷ had to be carried¹³⁸ by the soldiers because of the violence¹³⁹ of the mob, ^21:36for a crowd of people¹⁴⁰ followed them,¹⁴¹ screaming, “Away with him!”

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Footnotes

95 συντελέω 4 has “to come to an end of a duration, come to an end, be over … Ac 21:27.”
96 Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia. Note how there is a sense of Paul being pursued from a distance. These Jews may well have been from Ephesus, since they recognized Trophimus the Ephesian (v. 29).
97 Grk “in the temple.” See the note on the word “temple” in v. .
98 Or “threw the whole crowd into consternation.” L&N 25.221 has “συνέχεον πάντα τὸν ὅχλον ‘they threw the whole crowd into consternation’ Ac 21:27. It is also possible to render the expression in Ac 21:27 as ‘they stirred up the whole crowd.’ ”
99 Grk “and laid hands on.”
100 Or “Israelite men,” although this is less natural English. The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anēr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context, it is conceivable that this is a generic usage since “the whole crowd” is mentioned in v. 27, although it can also be argued that these remarks were addressed primarily to the men present, even if women were there.
101 The law refers to the law of Moses.
102 Grk “this place.” This sanctuary refers to the temple. The charges were not new, but were similar to those made against Stephen (Acts 6:14) and Jesus (Luke 23:2).
103 ἔτι 2.b has “ἔ. δὲ καί furthermore … al. ἔ. τε καί … Lk 14:26; Ac 21:28.” This is a continuation of the same sentence in Greek, but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was begun here in the translation.
104 Grk “into the temple.” The specific reference is to the Court of the Sons of Israel (see the note following the term “unclean” at the end of this verse). To avoid giving the modern reader the impression that they entered the temple building itself, the phrase “the inner courts of the temple” has been used in the translation.
105 Or “and has defiled this holy place.” Has brought Greeks … unclean. Note how the issue is both religious and ethnic, showing a different attitude by the Jews. A Gentile was not permitted to enter the inner temple precincts (contrast Eph 2:11–22). According to Josephus ( 15.11.5 [15.417]; 5.5.2 [5.193], cf. 5.5.6 [5.227]), the inner temple courts (the Court of the Women, the Court of the Sons of Israel, and the Court of the Priests) were raised slightly above the level of the Court of the Gentiles and were surrounded by a wall about 5 ft (1.5 m) high. Notices in both Greek and Latin (two of which have been discovered) warned that any Gentiles who ventured into the inner courts would be responsible for their own deaths. See also Philo, 31 (212). In Middot 2:3 this wall was called “soreq” and according to Sanhedrin 9:6 the stranger who trespassed beyond the soreq would die by the hand of God.
106 Grk “whom.”
107 On the phrase “inner temple courts” see the note on the word “temple” in v. . This is a parenthetical note by the author. The note explains the cause of the charge and also notes that it was false.
108 On this term see κινέω 2.b.
109 Or “the people formed a mob.” συνδρομή has “formation of a mob by pers. running together, running together … ἐγένετο ς. τοῦ λαοῦ the people rushed together Ac 21:30.”
110 Grk “and seizing.” The participle ἐπιλαβόμενοι (epilabomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun in the translation, and καί (kai) has not been translated here.
111 Grk “out of the temple.” See the note on the word “temple” in v. .
112 Grk “seeking.”
113 Or “information” (originally concerning a crime; φάσις).
114 Grk “went up”; this verb is used because the report went up to the Antonia Fortress where the Roman garrison was stationed.
115 Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (chiliarchos) literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militare, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.
116 A cohort was a Roman military unit of about 600 soldiers, one-tenth of a legion.
117 συγχέω has “Pass. act.force be in confusion … ὅλη συγχύννεται Ἰερουσαλήμ 21:31.”
118 Grk “who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated as a pronoun (“he”) and a new sentence was begun here in the translation.
119 Grk “taking … ran down.” The participle κατέδραμεν (katedramen) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
120 See the note on the word centurion in .
121 Grk “to them”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
122 Grk “seeing.” The participle ἰδόντες (idontes) has been taken temporally.
123 Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. .
124 The mob stopped beating Paul because they feared the Romans would arrest them for disturbing the peace and for mob violence. They would let the Roman officials take care of the matter from this point on.
125 Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. .
126 Grk “seized.”
127 The two chains would be something like handcuffs ( ἅλυσις and compare Acts 28:20).
128 Grk “and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun in the translation, and καί (kai) has been replaced with a semicolon. “Then” has been supplied after “he” to clarify the logical sequence.
129 Grk “and what it is”; this has been simplified to “what.”
130 L&N 33.77 has “ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλο τι ἐπεφώνουν ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ‘some in the crowd shouted one thing; others, something else’ Ac 21:34.”
131 Grk “he”; the referent (the commanding officer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
132 This genitive absolute construction has been translated temporally; it could also be taken causally: “and since the commanding officer was unable to find out the truth.”
133 Or “find out what had happened”; Grk “the certainty” ( ἀσφαλής 2).
134 Or “clamor,” “uproar” ( θόρυβος).
135 Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
136 Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”
137 Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
138 Paul had to be carried. Note how the arrest really ended up protecting Paul. The crowd is portrayed as irrational at this point.
139 This refers to mob violence ( βία b).
140 Grk “the multitude of people.” While πλῆθος (plēthos) is articular, it has been translated “a crowd” since it was probably a subset of the larger mob that gathered in v. 30.
141 The word “them” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.