Công Vụ Các Sứ Đồ 21

The voyage to Tyre

¹When we had parted from them, hard as it was, and put out to sea, we made a straight run to Cos. The next day we came to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.^{a 2}There we found a ship bound across the sea for Phoenicia, so we went aboard and put out. ³We came in sight of Cyprus and passed it by on our left, sailing on toward Syria, and we put in at Tyre, because the ship was to discharge its cargo there. ⁴We looked up the disciples there and stayed seven days. Speaking through the Spirit, they kept telling Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.^{b 5}When our time there came to an end, we set out on our way again. The whole company, wives and children too, walked with us until we were outside the city. On the shore we went down on our knees and prayed, ⁶and we took leave of one another. Then we boarded the ship, and they went back to their homes.

In the house of Philip at Caesarea

⁷We brought the voyage from Tyre to its end at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and spent a day with them.^{c 8}The next day we left and came to Caesarea. We made our way to the house of Philip the evangelist, who had been one of the seven, and stayed as his guests.^{d 9}Philip had four daughters who were not married, and they prophesied. ¹⁰During our stay of several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹He came to us, took Paul’s belt, and bound his own feet and hands with it. He said, “Here is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘Like this the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man this belt belongs to, and they will give him up into the hands of the Gentiles.’” ¹²At these words, we ourselves joined the people of the place in urging Paul again and again not to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³Paul replied, “What do you mean by weeping and crushing my heart? For my part, I am prepared to be bound in Jerusalem, and more than that, to die there, for the name of the Lord Jesus.” ¹⁴Since he would not be persuaded, we said no more except, “Let the Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After those days we got our things ready and set out on the road up to Jerusalem. ¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea came along with us. They took us to the house of Mnason, a man of Cyprus and a disciple from the early days, so that we could stay with him.^ef

Paul with James and the elders

¹⁷When we came to Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters were glad to welcome us. ¹⁸On the day after, Paul took us with him to James, and the elders all came. ¹⁹After greeting them, Paul told them, item by item, everything God had accomplished among the Gentiles through the service he had been given. ²⁰On hearing this they glorified God, and they said to Paul, “Look, brother, at the tens of thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and every one of them is deeply devoted to the law. ²¹Yet word has reached them that you are teaching the Jews scattered among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, and that you say they should no longer circumcise their children or follow the customs. ²²So what is to be done? There is no doubt they will hear that you have arrived.^{g 23}Here is our advice, then. Four men among us have taken a vow on themselves. ²⁴Bring these men with you, be purified along with them, and cover the cost of their offerings so that they can shave their heads. Then everyone will see that the reports about you are empty, and that you yourself live in line with the law and keep it.^{h 25}For the Gentiles who have come to believe, we have already written what we decided: they are to avoid meat sacrificed to idols, and blood, and anything strangled, and sexual immorality.”^{i 26}Then Paul took the men along. On the following day he was purified with them and went into the temple, announcing when their days of purification would be over and the offering for each of them would be presented.

Seized in the temple

²⁷The seven days were nearly over when some Jews from Asia caught sight of Paul in the temple. They threw the whole crowd into confusion and laid hands on him, ²⁸shouting, “People of Israel, help! This is the man whose teaching, everywhere he goes, sets everyone against our people, the law and this place. And now he has even brought Greeks into the temple and made this holy place unclean.” ²⁹For they had seen Paul in the city a little earlier with Trophimus, a man of Ephesus, and they took it for granted that Paul had taken him into the temple. ³⁰The entire city was set in motion, and the people rushed together. They laid hold of Paul and hauled him out of the temple, and straightaway the gates were closed. ³¹They were set on killing him when a report went up to the tribune in command of the cohort that the whole of Jerusalem was in turmoil. ³²He immediately took soldiers and centurions and rushed down on the crowd, and at the sight of the tribune and the soldiers they left off beating Paul. ³³Coming up to Paul, the tribune took him into custody and gave orders to fasten him with two chains. He began asking who the man was and what he had been doing. ³⁴But the crowd shouted back, some one thing, some another. The din made it impossible for him to get at the facts, so he had Paul taken into the barracks. ³⁵At the stairs, the crowd’s violence was such that the soldiers had to carry Paul up. ³⁶The whole mass of people came after them, crying out, “Away with him!”

Paul asks to speak to the people

³⁷As they were about to take him into the barracks, Paul said to the tribune, “May I have a word with you?” The tribune said, “You know Greek? ³⁸So you are not the Egyptian who stirred up a rebellion a while ago and led the 4,000 men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”^{j 39}Paul answered, “I am a Jew, a man of Tarsus in Cilicia, and a citizen of a city of some note. I ask you, allow me to address the people.” ⁴⁰The tribune gave permission, and Paul, standing on the steps, raised his hand to the people. When all had fallen silent, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language. He said:^k