﻿Acts.
Chapter 21.
After we had torn ourselves away from them and set sail, we sailed directly to Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 
We found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, went aboard, and set sail. 
When we came in sight of Cyprus, we left it on our left and sailed for Syria. We landed at Tyre, for the ship was to unload its cargo there. 
We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they kept telling Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem. 
When our days there were over, we left and continued our journey. They all accompanied us outside the city, with their wives and children. We knelt on the beach and prayed, 
said farewell to one another, and boarded the ship, while they returned home. 
We completed the voyage from Tyre and arrived at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. 
The next day we left and came to Caesarea. We entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him. 
He had four virgin daughters who prophesied. 
While we stayed there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 
He came to us, took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and hand him over into the hands of the Gentiles.’” 
When we heard this, both we and the people there pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. 
Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 
When he would not be persuaded, we stopped insisting and said, “Let the Lord’s will be done.” 
After those days we made our preparations and went up to Jerusalem. 
Some disciples from Caesarea also accompanied us, bringing us to Mnason, a Cypriot and a disciple from the early days, with whom we were to stay. 
When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly. 
The next day Paul went with us to James, and all the elders were present. 
After greeting them, he recounted one by one the things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 
When they heard it, they glorified God and said to him, “You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of Jews have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. 
They have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or follow the customs. 
What is to be done, then? They will certainly hear that you have come. 
So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. 
Take them with you, purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. 
As for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.” 
Then Paul took the men with him, and the next day he purified himself with them and entered the temple, giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, when the offering would be presented for each of them. 
When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him, 
shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against the people, the law, and this place. He has even brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 
For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 
The whole city was stirred up, and the people came running together. They seized Paul and dragged him outside the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. 
As they were seeking to kill him, word reached the commander of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 
He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 
Then the commander came up, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done. 
Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another. Since he could learn nothing certain because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. 
When Paul reached the stairs, the soldiers had to carry him because of the crowd’s violence, 
for the multitude of people followed, shouting, “Away with him!” 
As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” He replied, “Do you know Greek? 
Then are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?” 
Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” 
When he gave permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. A great silence fell, and he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying: 
