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Acts 21:31-40

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

31. And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32. Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. 33. Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded [him] to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done. 34. And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. 35. And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people. 36. For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him. 37. And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? 38. Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? 39. But Paul said, I am a man [which am] a Jew of Tarsus, [a city] in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people. 40. And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto [them] in the Hebrew tongue, saying,

Acts 21:31-40 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Acts 21:31

Theological / Devotional

To kill him. The men who had seized Paul intended to take his life, even as they had taken the life of Stephen (ch. 7:54-60). In the meantime they beat him (ch. 21:32).

Tidings. Gr. phasis, “a disclosure [of secret crime],” “information by report.”

Chief captain. Gr. chiliarchos, “leader of a thousand men,” the term for the Roman military tribune, commander of a cohort.

Band. Gr. speira, “a cohort” (see on ch. 10:1). This Roman garrison, then considered sufficient, with its armament and strict discipline, to restrain even the turbulent Jews, was lodged in the tower built on a rock at the northwest side of the Temple area. This tower had been built by Herod the Great and named Antonia in honor of the triumvir Mark Antony, notorious for his infatuation with Cleopatra and his defeat at the Battle of Actium. The Tower of Antonia had a turret at each corner and two flights of stairs leading to arcades on the northern and western sides of the Temple. The garrison would be kept on the alert especially at a time like Pentecost, when thousands of strangers were in the city. See Jerusalem in Time of Christ.

By SdaBc