Acts 21:18-40

Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁸ The next day Sha’ul and the rest of us went in to Ya‘akov, and all the elders were present. ¹⁹ After greeting them, Sha’ul described in detail each of the things God had done among the Gentiles through his efforts.

²⁰ On hearing it, they praised God; but they also said to him, “You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Judeans, and they are all zealots for the Torah. ²¹ Now what they have been told about you is that you are teaching all the Jews living among the Goyim to apostatize from Moshe, telling them not to have a b’rit-milah for their sons and not to follow the traditions.

²² “What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. ²³ So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. ²⁴ Take them with you, be purified with them, and pay the expenses connected with having their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to these rumors which they have heard about you; but that, on the contrary, you yourself stay in line and keep the Torah.

²⁵ “However, in regard to the Goyim who have come to trust in Yeshua, we all joined in writing them a letter with our decision that they should abstain from what had been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled and from fornication.”

²⁶ The next day Sha’ul took the men, purified himself along with them and entered the Temple to give notice of when the period of purification would be finished and the offering would have to be made for each of them. ²⁷ The seven days were almost up when some unbelieving Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the Temple, stirred up all the crowd and grabbed him. ²⁸ “Men of Isra’el, help!” they shouted. “This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone things against the people, against the Torah and against this place! And now he has even brought some Goyim into the Temple and defiled this holy place!” ²⁹ (They had previously seen Trophimus from Ephesus in the city with him and assumed that Sha’ul had brought him into the Temple.)

³⁰ The whole city was aroused, and people came running from all over. They seized Sha’ul and dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the gates were shut. ³¹ But while they were attempting to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman battalion that all Yerushalayim was in turmoil. ³² Immediately he took officers and soldiers and charged down upon them. As soon as they saw the commander, they quit beating Sha’ul.

³³ Then the commander came up, arrested him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ Everyone in the crowd shouted something different; so, since he couldn’t find out what had happened because of the uproar, he ordered him brought to the barracks. ³⁵ When Sha’ul got to the steps, he actually had to be carried by the soldiers, because the mob was so wild — ³⁶ the crowd kept following and screaming, “Kill him!”

³⁷ As Sha’ul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “Is it all right if I say something to you?” The commander said, “You know Greek! ³⁸ Say, aren’t you that Egyptian who tried to start a revolution a while back, and led four thousand armed terrorists out into the desert?” ³⁹ Sha’ul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city; and I ask your permission to let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰ Having received permission, Sha’ul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When they finally became still, he addressed them in Hebrew: