Acts 21
1 After we had said goodbye to them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos; the next day, to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.
2 We found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, boarded it, and set sail.
3 We sighted Cyprus, left the island on our left, sailed on to Syria, and landed at Tyre, because the ship was unloading its cargo there.
4 We found the disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit, they kept telling Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.
5 When those days were over, we left and continued our journey. They all, with their wives and children, accompanied us outside the city. We knelt on the beach and prayed.
6 Then we said goodbye to one another and boarded the ship, while they returned to their homes.
7 When we had completed the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. We greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.
8 The next day we left and arrived at Caesarea. We went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven, and stayed with him.
9 He had four virgin daughters who prophesied.
10 While we stayed there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
11 He came to us, took Paul's belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘The man who owns this belt will be tied up like this by the Jews in Jerusalem and handed over to the Gentiles.’”
12 When we heard this, both we and the people there pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.
13 Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be tied up, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
14 Since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent and said, “May the Lord's will be done.”
15 After those days, we made our preparations and went up to Jerusalem.
16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to stay with a certain Mnason from Cyprus, an old disciple.
17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly.
18 The next day Paul went with us to see James, and all the elders were present.
19 After greeting them, he recounted one by one the things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 When they heard this, they glorified God and said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law.
21 They have been told about you: that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or follow the customs.
22 What should we do, then? They will certainly hear that you have arrived.
23 So do what we tell you: we have four men here who have made a vow.
24 Take them with you, purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses so they can shave their heads. Then everyone will know there is nothing to what they have been told about you, but that you too are living in observance of the Law.
25 As for the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote to them, deciding that they should keep away from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”
26 Then Paul took the men and, the next day, purified himself with them and entered the temple, announcing when the days of purification would be completed and when the offering for each of them would be presented.
27 When the seven days were nearly over, Jews from Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him.
28 They shouted, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, the Law, and this place. He has even brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”
29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they assumed Paul had brought him into the temple.
30 The whole city was stirred up, and people came running from every direction. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and the doors were shut at once.
31 While they were trying to kill him, word reached the commander of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
33 Then the commander came up, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.
34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing, others another. Since he could not find out anything for certain because of the uproar, he ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks.
35 When Paul reached the steps, the soldiers had to carry him because the crowd was so violent.
36 For the crowd followed, shouting, “Away with him!”
37 As Paul was about to be taken into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” He replied, “You know Greek?
38 Then you aren't the Egyptian who some time ago started a revolt and led the four thousand men of the assassins out into the wilderness?”
39 Paul said, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I ask you, let me speak to the people.”
40 He gave him permission, and Paul, standing on the steps, motioned to the people with his hand. When there was a great silence, he addressed them in the Hebrew language:
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