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    Acts · 40 verses

    Acts 21

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    The chapter

    What happens here

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    A Roman commander, arriving in the middle of a riot, asked Paul whether he was the Egyptian rebel who had led four thousand Assassins into the wilderness; Paul replied that he was from Tarsus, and then asked permission to address the mob.

    From ship to ship, and a belt made propheticvv. 1–16

    The journey runs neatly through Cos, Rhodes, Patara, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Syria, Tyre, Ptolemais and Caesarea, though the welcome at Tyre brings a warning: the disciples, speaking through the Spirit, kept telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem. They nevertheless escort the travellers out of the city, wives and children included, and kneel on the beach to pray. In Caesarea, Agabus makes the warning wonderfully difficult to misunderstand: he takes Paul’s belt, ties up his own hands and feet, and announces what will happen to its owner. Paul will not be turned aside, and the company falls quiet with the sentence, “The Lord’s will be done.”

    A peaceful arrangement meets an angry assumptionvv. 17–26

    In Jerusalem, Paul is welcomed and brought to James and the elders, where he recounts what God has done among the Gentiles. The elders rejoice, but rumours have arrived before him: that he teaches Jews abroad to forsake Moses. Their proposed answer is thoroughly practical—Paul is to join four men under a vow, pay their expenses, and show himself obedient to the law. He does so, entering the temple and giving notice of the purification. For the Gentile believers, the earlier decision remains in place. All appears arranged, which is precisely when the trouble starts.

    The temple, the mob, and the wrong Egyptianvv. 27–40

    Some Jews from Asia see Paul in the temple and stir up the crowd, accusing him of bringing Greeks into the holy place. The charge rests on a glimpse: they had seen Trophimus with him in the city and assumed the rest. The whole city surges, Paul is dragged outside, and the gates are shut. A Roman commander arrives with soldiers, binds Paul with two chains, and hears a crowd shouting incompatible answers. Then comes the deliciously misplaced question: “Aren’t you the Egyptian...?” Paul identifies himself as a Jew from Tarsus, asks to speak, receives permission, and raises his hand to a crowd that has just been trying to kill him. A great hush follows.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Acts 21:1After we had torn ourselves away from them, we sailed directly to Cos, and the next day on to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

    2. Acts 21:2Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded it and set sail.

    3. Acts 21:3After sighting Cyprus and passing south of it, we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, where the ship was to unload its cargo.

    4. Acts 21:4We sought out the disciples in Tyre and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they kept telling Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

    5. Acts 21:5But when our time there had ended, we set out on our journey. All the disciples, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city and knelt down on the beach to pray with us.

    6. Acts 21:6And after we had said our farewells, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.

    7. Acts 21:7When we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for a day.

    8. Acts 21:8Leaving the next day, we went on to Caesarea and stayed at the home of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven.

    9. Acts 21:9He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

    10. Acts 21:10After we had been there several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

    11. Acts 21:11Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

    12. Acts 21:12When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

    13. Acts 21:13Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

    14. Acts 21:14When he would not be dissuaded, we quieted down and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

    15. Acts 21:15After these days, we packed up and went on to Jerusalem.

    16. Acts 21:16Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us, and they took us to stay at the home of Mnason the Cypriot, an early disciple.

    17. Acts 21:17When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us joyfully.

    18. Acts 21:18The next day Paul went in with us to see James, and all the elders were present.

    19. Acts 21:19Paul greeted them and recounted one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

    20. Acts 21:20When they heard this, they glorified God. Then they said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.

    21. Acts 21:21But they are under the impression that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe our customs.

    22. Acts 21:22What then should we do? They will certainly hear that you have come.

    23. Acts 21:23Therefore do what we advise you. There are four men with us who have taken a vow.

    24. Acts 21:24Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.

    25. Acts 21:25As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”

    26. Acts 21:26So the next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he entered the temple to give notice of the date when their purification would be complete and the offering would be made for each of them.

    27. Acts 21:27When the seven days were almost over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him,

    28. Acts 21:28crying out, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”

    29. Acts 21:29For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

    30. Acts 21:30The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

    31. Acts 21:31While they were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment received a report that all Jerusalem was in turmoil.

    32. Acts 21:32Immediately he took some soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

    33. Acts 21:33The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

    34. Acts 21:34Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, and some another. And since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks.

    35. Acts 21:35When Paul reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.

    36. Acts 21:36For the crowd that followed him kept shouting, “Away with him!”

    37. Acts 21:37As they were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?” “Do you speak Greek?” he replied.

    38. Acts 21:38“Aren’t you the Egyptian who incited a rebellion some time ago and led four thousand members of the Assassins into the wilderness?”

    39. Acts 21:39But Paul answered, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Now I beg you to allow me to speak to the people.”

    40. Acts 21:40Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 406 passages were voted onto 40 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 13Acts 20:24But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
    • 8Acts 6:5This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, as well as Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.
    • 13Philippians 2:17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
    • 13Philippians 1:20–21I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
    • 10Acts 11:28One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. (This happened under Claudius.)
    • 13Romans 8:35–37Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
    • 14Luke 22:42“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
    • 20Romans 10:2For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge.
    • 33Ephesians 6:20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly, as I should.
    • 8Acts 8:26–40Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
    • 11Acts 21:33The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.
    • 19Acts 14:27When they arrived, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them, and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
    • 21Galatians 6:12–15Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ.
    • 211 Corinthians 9:19–21Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
    • 23Acts 18:18Paul remained in Corinth for quite some time before saying goodbye to the brothers. He had his head shaved in Cenchrea to keep a vow he had made, and then he sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila.
    • 25Acts 15:29You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

    Onward

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