Paul arrested and put in Chains

Acts 21:26-40. Paul placed in chains in Jerusalem.
This was done by the Roman Commander Claudius Lysias – about AD57.

The background to this event was that some Sadducees, one of the many groups of religious Jews, along with others, had it in for Paul who had left their ranks as a Pharisee and had gone over to this new group that they opposed.

As the running battle continued, they found a way to make trouble.

Paul had just come back to Jerusalem to present money for the poor of the church. At the same time Paul went to the Temple as sponsor for some men who were undergoing a rite of purification.

Background Reading:

Paul Arrested

Paul is Arrested in the Temple
21:26 Then Paul took those men and the next day purified himself with them. Then he went into the Temple to announce the time when their days of purification would end and when the sacrifice would be offered for each of them. 27 When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, seeing Paul in the Temple, stirred up a large crowd. They grabbed Paul, 28 yelling, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against our people, the Law, and this place. More than that, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and desecrated this Holy Place.” 29 For they had earlier seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple. 30 The whole city was in chaos. The people rushed together, grabbed Paul, dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the doors were sealed shut.

31 The crowd was trying to kill Paul when a report reached the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 Immediately the tribune took some soldiers and officers and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the tribune came up, grabbed Paul, and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He then asked who Paul was and what he had done. 34 Some of the crowd shouted this and some that. Since the tribune couldn’t learn the facts due to the confusion, he ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because the mob had become so violent. 36 The crowd of people kept following him and shouting, “Kill him!”

Paul Speaks in His Own Defense

37 Just as Paul was about to be taken into the barracks, he asked the tribune, “May I say something to you?”

The tribune asked, “Oh, do you speak Greek? 38 You’re not the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led 4,000 assassins into the desert, are you?”

39 Paul replied, “I’m a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. Please let me speak to the people.” 40 The tribune gave him permission, and Paul, standing on the steps, motioned for the people to be silent. When everyone had quieted down, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language:
Acts 21:26-40


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