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Acts 21

KJV · Chapter 21/28

1And it came to pass, that after we were gotten from them, and had launched, we came with a straight course unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara:

2And finding a ship sailing over unto Phenicia, we went aboard, and set forth.

3Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden.

4And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.

5And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed.

6And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they returned home again.

7And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day.

8And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Cesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.

9And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.

10And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet, named Agabus.

11And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

12And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.

13Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

14And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.

15And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.

16There went with us also certain of the disciples of Cesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.

17And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

18And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.

19And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.

20And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

21And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.

22What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.

23Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;

24Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.

25As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.

26Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.

27And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,

28Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.

29(For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)

30And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut.

31And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

32Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul.

33Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done.

34And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle.

35And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people.

36For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him.

37And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek?

38Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?

39But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.

40And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Despite prophetic warnings of danger, Paul insists on going to Jerusalem. There, he is recognized in the temple by Jews from Asia, who falsely accuse him and stir up a riot; he is arrested by the Romans, who rescue him from the enraged crowd.

Explanation

Several prophetic warnings (including Agabus binding his own belt) try to dissuade Paul, but he presses on determined, saying he is ready even to die for Christ. The leaders in Jerusalem ask him to take part in a purification rite to prove he still respected the Jewish law — an attempt to calm tensions that, ironically, is what triggers the riot. The intervention of the Roman commander, who rescues Paul from the crowd, shows how the structure of the Roman Empire, despite being pagan, would go on to protect Paul at several future moments.

Fun facts

  • The 'barracks' where Paul was taken was the Antonia Fortress, built by Herod the Great and connected to the temple courtyard by stairs — allowing Roman soldiers to intervene quickly in religious riots, as happened here.
  • Being mistaken for 'the Egyptian' who led a revolt is confirmed by Flavius Josephus, who records a false Egyptian prophet who gathered thousands of followers on the Mount of Olives shortly before this period.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Acts 21:1After the emotional farewell in Ephesus, the group continues by ship, making quick stops at Coos, Rhodes, and Patara, islands and ports along the coast of Asia Minor.
  2. Acts 21:2At Patara, they find another ship heading straight for Phoenicia, on the coast of Syria, and change vessels to continue the journey.
  3. Acts 21:3They pass within sight of Cyprus, Barnabas’s home island, without stopping there, and continue on to Tyre, where the ship needed to unload its cargo.
  4. Acts 21:4In Tyre they find an already established Christian community and stay seven days; these disciples, through the Spirit, warn Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.
  5. Acts 21:5At the end of the stay, the whole community of Tyre, including women and children, walks with the group outside the city, and they all kneel on the beach to pray together before departing.
  6. Acts 21:6After saying goodbye, they board the ship again, and the Christians of Tyre return to their own homes, closing out this leg of the journey.
  7. Acts 21:7From Tyre they arrive at Ptolemais, where they greet another community of believers and stay as guests for one day before moving on.
  8. Acts 21:8In Caesarea, the group stays at the house of Philip the evangelist, the same Philip from chapters 6 and 8, one of the first seven deacons chosen in Jerusalem.
  9. Acts 21:9The daughters of Philip, the evangelist from chapter 8, exercised the gift of prophecy, showing that women also prophesied openly in the earliest Christian communities, something the text mentions without further comment.
  10. Acts 21:10During the extended stay in Caesarea, a prophet named Agabus, already mentioned earlier predicting a famine in chapter 11, comes down from Judea to visit them.
  11. Acts 21:11Agabus gives a dramatic demonstration, binding his own feet and hands with Paul’s belt, announcing that the Jews of Jerusalem would bind the owner of that belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.
  12. Acts 21:12Faced with this alarming prophecy, both the local residents and Paul’s own traveling companions try to convince him not to go up to Jerusalem.
  13. Acts 21:13Paul answers, deeply moved, asking why they insist on weeping and breaking his heart, since he was ready not only to be bound, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of Jesus.
  14. Acts 21:14Seeing that they could not move Paul from his decision, the group gives up insisting and accepts that the Lord’s will be done, even without fully understanding the plan.
  15. Acts 21:15After these days of warnings and farewells, the group finally finishes its preparations and heads up toward Jerusalem.
  16. Acts 21:16Some disciples from Caesarea join the journey, bringing along an early Christian named Mnason, from Cyprus, in whose house they would stay in Jerusalem.
  17. Acts 21:17On arriving in Jerusalem, the group is received joyfully by the brothers of the city, a calm welcome before the tension that would soon follow.
  18. Acts 21:18The next day, Paul goes with the group to the house of James, the brother of Jesus and leader of the Jerusalem church, where all the local elders were also present.
  19. Acts 21:19After greeting them, Paul reports in detail everything God had done among the Gentiles through his missionary work.
  20. Acts 21:20The leaders in Jerusalem point out to Paul that there was a large number of Jewish Christians who kept practicing the whole Mosaic law as usual. Faith in Jesus, for them, did not mean abandoning Jewish customs.
  21. Acts 21:21The leaders in Jerusalem tell Paul about a troubling rumor: that he was teaching Jews of the diaspora to abandon the law of Moses and stop circumcising their children.
  22. Acts 21:22Worried about the fallout, they acknowledge that news of Paul’s arrival will certainly draw a curious or hostile crowd.
  23. Acts 21:23The four men under a vow mentioned here probably took the same kind of Nazirite vow already seen with Paul in chapter 18, which involved a period of consecration ending with offerings at the temple and a haircut.
  24. Acts 21:24The proposed solution is for Paul to publicly take part in a rite of purification together with four men who had taken a vow, visibly proving that he himself still respected the Jewish law.
  25. Acts 21:25The leaders stress that this requirement was only for Paul, since the decision about converted Gentiles made at the council in chapter 15 still stood and did not include keeping the whole law.
  26. Acts 21:26Paul takes part in the purification rites at the temple with these four men, paying the required expenses, precisely to publicly prove that he still respected the Jewish law and was not teaching Jews to abandon it, as the rumor claimed.
  27. Acts 21:27Near the end of the seven days of the rite, Jews from the province of Asia recognize Paul in the temple, stir up the crowd against him, and seize him by force.
  28. Acts 21:28The temple in Jerusalem had an area forbidden to non-Jews, marked by warning inscriptions, and entering it could even be a capital crime. The crowd wrongly assumes that Paul had brought a Gentile past that line.
  29. Acts 21:29The accusation arises from a misunderstanding: they had seen Paul in the city with Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus, and assumed, without proof, that he had brought this Gentile into the forbidden area of the temple.
  30. Acts 21:30The uproar spreads through the whole city, and the crowd drags Paul out of the temple, shutting the gates right after, probably to prevent further profanation.
  31. Acts 21:31While they are trying to kill him, news of the disturbance in Jerusalem quickly reaches the Roman commander in charge of the city garrison.
  32. Acts 21:32The commander acts quickly, bringing soldiers and centurions to the scene; their presence alone is enough to make the crowd stop beating Paul.
  33. Acts 21:33The commander arrests Paul, orders him bound with two chains, and only afterward asks who he was and what he had done—arresting first and questioning later.
  34. Acts 21:34Unable to make out anything clearly, since the crowd was shouting different things at once, the commander decides to take Paul into the Roman fortress adjoining the temple.
  35. Acts 21:35The crowd’s violence is so intense that the soldiers themselves have to carry Paul up the stairs of the fortress to protect him physically.
  36. Acts 21:36The crowd keeps following behind them, insistently shouting for his death, showing how quickly the hatred against Paul had grown.
  37. Acts 21:37Right at the entrance to the fortress, Paul surprises the commander by asking to speak with him in Greek, an educated language the commander did not expect from a supposed criminal.
  38. Acts 21:38The commander mistakes Paul for a well-known Egyptian agitator, who had led an armed revolt shortly before, showing how the region lived under the constant threat of uprisings.
  39. Acts 21:39Paul first identifies himself as a citizen of his hometown, Tarsus, an important center of Greek culture in Cilicia, before mentioning, only in the next chapter, that he was also a Roman citizen by birth.
  40. Acts 21:40With the commander’s permission, Paul takes his place on the stairs, motions for silence, and begins speaking directly to the people in Hebrew (or Aramaic), the local language the crowd understood best.

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