Acts
Chapter 21:v17 - Chapter 22:v29
Acts 21: v17-40
Paul's Arrival at Jerusalem
17When we
arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. 18The
next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among
the Gentiles through his ministry.
20When
they heard this, they praised 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. 21They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live
among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children
or live according to our customs. 22What shall we do? They
will certainly hear that you have come, 23so do what we tell
you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24Take
these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have
their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you,
but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25As
for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain
from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from
sexual immorality."
26The next
day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to
give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be
made for each of them.
Paul Arrested
27When the
seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple.
They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28shouting,
"Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our
people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area
and defiled this holy place." 29(They had previously
seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him
into the temple area.)
30The
whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul,
they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander
of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the
crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
33The
commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he
asked who he was and what he had done. 34Some in the crowd
shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth
because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so
great he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36The crowd that
followed kept shouting, "Away with him!"
Paul Speaks to the Crowd
37As the
soldiers 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"Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt
and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?"
39Paul
answered, "I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please
let me speak to the people."
40Having
received the commander's permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd.
When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic:
Acts 22: v1-29
1"Brothers and fathers,
listen now to my defense." 2When they heard him speak to
them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.
Then Paul said: 3"I
am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was
thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you
are today. 4I persecuted the followers of this Way to their
death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5as
also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to
their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem
to be punished.
6"About
noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul! Saul!
Why do you persecute me?'
8"
'Who are you, Lord?' I asked.
" 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you
are persecuting,' he replied. 9My companions saw the light,
but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
10"'What
shall I do, Lord?' I asked.
"'Get up,' the Lord said, 'and go into Damascus.
There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.' 11My
companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had
blinded me.
12"A
man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected
by all the Jews living there. 13He stood beside me and said,
'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very moment I was able to see him.
14"Then
he said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous
One and to hear words from his mouth. 15You will be his
witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16And now
what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his
name.'
17"When
I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw the Lord speaking. 'Quick!' he said to me. 'Leave
Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'
19"
'Lord,' I replied, 'these men know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison
and beat those who believe in you. 20And when the blood of
your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of
those who were killing him.'
21"Then
the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "
Paul the Roman Citizen
22The
crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted,
"Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!"
23As they
were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24the commander ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. He
directed that he be flogged and questioned in order to find out why the people were
shouting at him like this. 25As they stretched him out to
flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a
Roman citizen who hasn't even been found guilty?"
26When the
centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. "What are you going
to do?" he asked. "This man is a Roman citizen."
27The
commander went to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?"
"Yes, I am," he answered.
28Then the
commander said, "I had to pay a big price for my citizenship."
"But I was born a citizen," Paul replied.
29Those
who were about to question him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed
when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
