Acts 21

₁We said goodbye to the elders of the city of Ephesus and then we got into the boat and sailed to the Island of Kos. The next day we came to the Island of Rhodes and then we sailed to the town of Patara. ₂In Patara, we looked for a boat that would sail to the land of Phoenicia. We got into the boat and sailed away. ₃Later we could see the Island of Cyprus. Then we sailed south of Cyprus to the land of Syria where we got off the boat in the town of Tyre. There were lots of things on the boat and they had to take them all off. ₄We went to look for the believers in Tyre and we stayed with them for 7 days. They told Paul that the Holy_Spirit had said that he must not go to Jerusalem. ₅After 7 days we went back to the boat to sail further. All the believers and their wives and children walked with us out of the town. We knelt on the beach and prayed. ₆Then we said goodbye to each other and we got into the boat and the believers went back home. ₇We sailed from Tyre to the town of Ptolemais where we greeted the believers and stayed with them for one day. ₈The next day we went to the city of Caesarea to the house of Philip and we stayed with him. He was one of the 7 men that the believers in Jerusalem had chosen to help the apostles and now he preached the Good_News in Caesarea. ₉Philip had 4 daughters. They were not married, and they were prophets. ₁₀We stayed in Caesarea for a long time and in that time a prophet came from Judea. His name was Agabus. ₁₁Agabus came to us and he took Paul's belt and he tied his own hands and feet with Paul's belt. Then he said: ‘The Holy_Spirit says that the Jews in Jerusalem will tie the man who always wears this belt. Then they will give him to the Gentiles.’

₁₂When we heard what Agabus said, we and all the believers who stayed there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. ₁₃But Paul said: ‘Why are you crying and making me sad? I am ready to go to Jerusalem. If they arrest me there, I will accept it. I am also ready to die because I believe in the Name of the Lord Jesus.’

₁₄Paul did not want to listen to what we told him, so we stopped asking him not to go and we said: ‘We pray that God will do what He wants to do with Paul.’

₁₅After that we prepared and went to Jerusalem. ₁₆Some of the believers from Caesarea went with us to Jerusalem. They said we must go to the house of Mnason. Mnason had lived on the Island of Cyprus before and he had become a believer long before this. We stayed at his home in Jerusalem.

₁₇When we came into Jerusalem, the believers were very happy to see us. ₁₈The next day Paul went with us to see James. All the elders were there with him. ₁₉Paul greeted them and he told them all the things that God had done and how God had used him to help the Gentiles believe in Christ. ₂₀When they heard what Paul said, they praised God and they said to Paul: ‘Friend, you know there are many thousands of Jews who believe in Christ and they all obey the laws of Moses. ₂₁Some people have told us that you teach the Jews who stay in other lands that they do not have to do what is written in the laws of Moses. They say that you tell the Jews not to circumcise their children and not to do the things that Jews always do.

₂₂Now we don't know what to do. Those Jews will hear that you are here in Jerusalem. ₂₃Please do what we ask you to do. There are 4 men with us who have made a special promise to God. ₂₄When they go to purify themselves in front of God, you must also go and purify yourself. You must also pay the price for them to purify themselves so that they can be free to cut their hair. Then everyone will know that the things that the people said about you are not_true. They will know that you also live in the right way and you do what the laws say.

₂₅Some time ago we wrote a letter to the Gentiles who believe in Christ. We told them that they must not eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols and that they must not eat blood or meat of animals that had been strangled. We also told them not to have sex with other people or live immorally.’

₂₆The next day Paul told the 4 men to go with him. He purified himself and they did the same. Then he went into the temple and he told them how long he and the 4 men would wait before they brought an offering to God.

₂₇The 7 days that Paul and the 4 men had to wait were almost over. But then some of the Jews who came from the province of Asia came to the temple and they saw Paul there. They shouted bad things about Paul and all the people in the temple came and they arrested Paul. ₂₈They shouted_loudly and said: ‘People of Israel, come and help us. This man goes everywhere and says bad things against the Israelites and against the laws of Moses and against this temple. Now he has even led some men, who are not Jews, into this temple and he has made the house of God impure.’

₂₉The Jews from Asia said this because they had seen Paul's friend, Trophimus, with him in Jerusalem. Trophimus was a Greek from the city of Ephesus, and they thought that Paul had taken Trophimus into the temple. ₃₀Everyone in the city was angry and the people ran to the temple. They grabbed Paul and brought him out of the temple and the temple-guards closed the doors immediately. ₃₁The Jews wanted to kill Paul but someone went to the Roman commander and told him that the people of Jerusalem were angry and that they were shouting. ₃₂The Roman commander immediately took his soldiers and officers and they ran to the temple. When the Jews saw the Roman commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ₃₃The Roman commander told his soldiers to arrest Paul and they tied Paul with 2 chains. Then the commander tried to find out who Paul was and what he had done wrong. ₃₄Some Jews shouted something and some other Jews shouted something else. They made so much noise that the commander could not find out what had happened. So he told his soldiers to take Paul to the place where the soldiers stayed. ₃₅When they came to the steps, the people were so angry that the soldiers had to carry Paul. ₃₆The people kept on shouting and saying: ‘Kill him.’

₃₇Just before the Roman soldiers took Paul into the army building, Paul asked the Roman commander: ‘May I say something?’ The commander said: ‘I hear you can speak the Greek language. ₃₈I thought you were the man from Egypt who led 4 000 men to the desert to rebel and fight against the Romans.’

₃₉Paul said to him: ‘No, I am a Jew. I am from the town of Tarsus in the province of Cilicia. I am a Roman_citizen from the town of Tarsus, an important town. Can I please talk to the people?’

₄₀The Roman commander said Paul could speak to the people. Then Paul went and stood on the steps and he put up his hand to show the people to be quiet. It was very quiet and then Paul talked to them in the Hebrew language.