Acts 21:10-30

During our stay of several days, Agabus, a prophet from Judea, came to visit us. As a prophetic gesture, he took Paul’s belt and tied his own hands and feet with it as he prophesied, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘The one who owns this belt will be tied up in this same way by the Jews and they will hand him over to those who are not Jews.’ ” When we heard this, both we and the believers of Caesarea begged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. But Paul replied, “Why do you cry and break my heart with your tears? Don’t you know that I’m prepared not only to be imprisoned but to die in Jerusalem for the sake of the wonder of the name of our Lord Jesus?” Because we couldn’t persuade him, we gave up and said nothing more except “May the will of the Lord be done.” Afterward we packed our bags and set off for Jerusalem, with some of the believers from Caesarea accompanying us. They brought us to a village where they introduced us to Mnason, a Cypriot, one of the original disciples, and he offered us hospitality. When we finally arrived in Jerusalem, the believers welcomed us with delight. The next day Paul and our team had a meeting with Jacob and all the elders of the Jerusalem church. After greeting everyone, Paul explained in detail what God had accomplished through his ministry among the non-Jewish people. When they heard Paul’s report, they praised God. And they said to him, “You should know, brother, that there are many tens of thousands of Jews who have also embraced the faith and are passionately keeping the law of Moses. But they’ve heard a rumor that you’ve been instructing the Jews everywhere to abandon Moses by telling them they don’t need to circumcise their children or keep our Jewish customs. They will certainly hear that you’ve come to Jerusalem. So what is the proper way to proceed? We urge you to follow our suggestion. We have four men here who have taken a vow and are ready to have their heads shaved. Now go with them to the temple and sponsor them in their purification ceremony, and pay all their required expenses. Then everyone will know that the rumors they’ve heard are false. They’ll see that you are one who lives according to the law of Moses. But in reference to the non-Jewish believers, we’ve sent them a letter with our decision, stating that they should avoid eating meat that has been offered to an idol, or eating blood or any animal that has been strangled, and to avoid sexual immorality.” The next day, Paul took the four men to the temple and ceremonially purified himself along with them. He publicly gave notice of the date when their vows would end and when sacrifices would be offered for each of them. When the seven-day period was almost over, a number of Jews from western Turkey who had seen him in the temple courts stirred up the whole crowd against him. Seizing him, they shouted, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everywhere what is contrary to our nation, our law, and this temple. And not only that, but now he brings these non-Jewish men with him into the inner courts of our temple! They have made this sacred place ritually unclean.” (For Trophimus, an Ephesian, had been seen previously with him, and they assumed that he entered the inner courts with Paul.) This ignited a huge riot in the city as all the people came together to seize Paul and drag him out of the temple courts, closing the gates behind him.