Acts 21:26-40

New American Standard Bible

²⁶ Then Paul ^[a]took along the men, and the next day, after ^(A)purifying himself together with them, he ^(B)went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

Paul Seized in the Temple

²⁷ When ^(C)the seven days were almost over, ^(D)the Jews from ^[b](E)Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, ²⁸ crying out, “Men of Israel, help! ^(F)This is the man who instructs everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has ^(G)defiled this holy place!” ²⁹ For they had previously seen ^(H)Trophimus the ^(I)Ephesian in the city with him, and they thought that Paul had brought him into the temple. ³⁰ Then the whole city was provoked and ^[c]the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they ^(J)dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. ³¹ While they were intent on killing him, a report came up to the commander of the ^(K)Roman ^[d]cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. ³² He immediately ^(L)took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to ^[e]the crowd; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³ Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered that he be ^(M)bound with ^(N)two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ But among the crowd, ^(O)some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the ^[f]facts because of the uproar, he ordered that ^[g]Paul be brought into ^(P)the barracks. ³⁵ When Paul got to ^(Q)the stairs, it came about that he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the ^[h]mob; ³⁶ for the multitude of people kept following them, shouting, “^(R)Away with him!”

³⁷ As Paul was about to be brought into ^(S)the barracks, he *said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸ Then you are not ^(T)the Egyptian who some ^[i]time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out ^(U)into the wilderness?” ³⁹ But Paul said, “^(V)I am a Jew of Tarsus in ^(W)Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” ⁴⁰ When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on ^(X)the stairs, ^(Y)motioned to the people with his hand; and when there ^[j]was a great silence, he spoke to them in the ^[k](Z)Hebrew dialect, saying,