Acts
21* And when we had torn ourselves away from them and set sail, we came in a straight run to Cos, and the following day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara; and, 2 finding a ship going across to Phenicia, we embarked and set sail in it. 3 And after sighting Cyprus and leaving it on the left we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, for it was there that the ship was unloading her cargo. 4 And we hunted up the converts and stayed seven days there; which converts told Paul by the Spirit not to go on board for Jerusalem. 5 And when we had finished out the days we came out and went on our way, everybody going along to see us off, with their wives and children, till we got outside the city; and we knelt down on the beach and prayed 6 and bade each other farewell, and we went aboard the ship; and they returned to their own affairs.
7 And we, after making the passage by sea from Tyre, reached Ptolemais and greeted the brothers and stayed with them one day. 8 And the day after that we came out and came to Cesarea, and went to the home of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 This man had four maiden daughters who used to prophesy. 10 And while we were making a stay of several days a certain prophet out of Jerusalem named Agabus came down, 11 and came to us and took off Paul’s belt and tied his own feet and hands and said “Says the Holy Spirit, the Jews will so tie up at Jerusalem the man this belt belongs to, and hand him over to the foreigners.” 12 And when we heard this, both we and the people of the place appealed to him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13* Then Paul answered “What are you doing weeping and tearing my heart? for I am ready not only to be put in fetters but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 And as he would not take the advice we dropped the matter, saying “The Lord’s will be done.”
15 And after those days we loaded up and went up to Jerusalem. 16 And with us came also some of the disciples from Cesarea, bringing the man at whose house we were to be entertained, one Mnason, a Cyprian, an original disciple. 17 And when we got to Jerusalem the brothers welcomed us with hearty pleasure. 18 And on the following day Paul went to James’s with us, and all the elders came in, 19 and he greeted them and gave accounts, one after another, of each of the things God had done among the foreigners by his agency.
20 And at hearing it they glorified God, and said to him “You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of those that have believed there are among the Jews, and they are all of them zealous for the law; 21* and they have had it dinned into their ears about you that you are teaching apostasy from Moses to all the Jews among the foreigners, saying they are not to circumcise their children nor go by the usages. 22* So what is the thing to do? they will be sure to hear you have come, 23* so do this that we tell you. There are four men of ours who have vows of their own; 24 take these with you and be purified with them and pay the expenses for them so they may shave their heads, and everybody will know that there is nothing in the propaganda, but you too shape your course to keep the law. 25* But about the foreigners that have believed we sent a letter deciding that they were to keep clear of what has been sacrificed to idols, and blood, and strangled meat, and unchastity.”
26 Then Paul took the men with him and on the next day was purified and went into the temple-precinct with them, advertising the completion of the days of purification until the offering for each one of them was made. 27 But as the seven days were about to come to an end the Jews from the province of Asia, espying him in the temple-precinct, threw all the crowd into turmoil and laid hands on him, 28 screaming “Men of Israel, help! this is the man that is teaching everybody everywhere against the people and the law and this place; and what is more, he has brought Greeks into the temple-precinct and defiled this sacred place” 29 (for they had already seen in the city with him Trophimus the Ephesian, whom they supposed Paul had brought into the temple-precinct), 30* and all the city was stirred up, and the people flocked together, and they got hold of Paul and dragged him outside the temple-precinct, and the door was shut at once; 31 and as they were trying to kill him, information that Jerusalem was all in a turmoil came up to the tribune of the cohort, 32 who instantly took soldiers and centurions and ran down on them; and they, seeing the tribune and the soldiers, left off beating Paul. 33 Then the tribune came on and got hold of him and ordered him chained with two chains, and inquired who he was and what he had done; 34 and some in the crowd raised one cry and others something else. And, not being able to find out the facts because of the disturbance, he ordered him brought into the barracks.
35 But when he came on the stairs he got to being carried along by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, 36 for the mass of the people were coming along screaming “Get him out of the way”; 37* and as he was about to be taken into the barracks Paul said to the tribune “Is it allowable for me to say something to you?” And he said “You know Greek, do you? 38* then you are not the Egyptian that some time ago drove wild those four thousand men of the dagger gangs and led them out into the desert?” 39 But Paul said “I am a Jew, a man from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. And I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.” 40 And, he having given permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, beckoned to the people. And when he got a good deal of silence he called to them in the Hebrew dialect