Acts 21:27–40

Paul Arrested in the Temple

²⁷When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd. They seized him,^{* 28}shouting, “Fellow Israelites,^v help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place; more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”^{* 29}For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.^{* 30}Then all the city was aroused, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.^{* 31}While they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. ³²Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.^{* 33}Then the tribune came, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; he inquired who he was and what he had done.^{* 34}Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another, and as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.^{* 35}When Paul^w came to the steps, the violence of the mob was so great that he had to be carried by the soldiers. ³⁶The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”^*

Paul Defends Himself

³⁷Just as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” The tribune^x replied, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸Then you are not the Egyptian who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?”^{* 39}Paul replied, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city; I beg you, let me speak to the people.”^{* 40}When he had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the people for silence, and when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew^y language, saying:^*