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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Acts 21 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/acts/21.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/acts/21-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Acts 21</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../acts/20.htm" title="Acts 20">◄</a> Acts 21 <a href="../acts/22.htm" title="Acts 22">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Paul Goes to Jerusalem</h3><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_1"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.1" class="v44_21_1">1</span>After saying goodbye, we sailed straight to Cos. The next day we reached Rhodes and from there sailed on to Patara. </span><span class="v44_21_2"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.2" class="v44_21_2">2</span>We found a ship going to Phoenicia, so we got on board and sailed off.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_3"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.3" class="v44_21_3">3</span>We came within sight of Cyprus and then sailed south of it on to the port of Tyre in Syria, where the ship was going to unload its cargo. </span><span class="v44_21_4"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.4" class="v44_21_4">4</span>We found the Lord's followers and stayed with them for a week. The Holy Spirit had told them to warn Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. </span><span class="v44_21_5"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.5" class="v44_21_5">5</span>But when the week was over, we started on our way again. All the men, together with their wives and children, walked with us from the town to the seashore. We knelt on the beach and prayed. </span><span class="v44_21_6"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.6" class="v44_21_6">6</span>Then after saying goodbye to each other, we got into the ship, and they went back home.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_7"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.7" class="v44_21_7">7</span>We sailed from Tyre to Ptolemais, where we greeted the followers and stayed with them for a day. </span><span class="v44_21_8"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.8" class="v44_21_8">8</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.21.8!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The next day we went to Caesarea and stayed with Philip, the preacher. He was one of the seven men who helped the apostles, </span><span class="v44_21_9"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.9" class="v44_21_9">9</span>and he had four unmarried<a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.21.9!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> daughters who prophesied.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_10"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.10" class="v44_21_10">10</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.21.10!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> We had been in Caesarea for several days, when the prophet Agabus came to us from Judea. </span><span class="v44_21_11"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.11" class="v44_21_11">11</span>He took Paul's belt, and with it he tied up his own hands and feet. Then he told us, “The Holy Spirit says that some of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. They will also hand him over to the Gentiles.” </span><span class="v44_21_12"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.12" class="v44_21_12">12</span>After Agabus said this, we and the followers living there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_13"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.13" class="v44_21_13">13</span>But Paul answered, “Why are you crying and breaking my heart? I am not only willing to be put in jail for the Lord Jesus, but I am even willing to die for him in Jerusalem!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_14"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.14" class="v44_21_14">14</span>Since we could not get Paul to change his mind, we gave up and prayed, “Lord, please make us willing to do what you want.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_15"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.15" class="v44_21_15">15</span>Then we got ready to go to Jerusalem. </span><span class="v44_21_16"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.16" class="v44_21_16">16</span>Some of the followers from Caesarea went with us and took us to stay in the home of Mnason. He was from Cyprus and had been a follower from the beginning.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Paul Visits James</h3><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_17"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.17" class="v44_21_17">17</span>When we arrived in Jerusalem, the Lord's followers gladly welcomed us. </span><span class="v44_21_18"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.18" class="v44_21_18">18</span>Paul went with us to see James<a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.21.18!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> the next day, and all the church leaders were present. </span><span class="v44_21_19"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.19" class="v44_21_19">19</span>Paul greeted them and told how God had used him to help the Gentiles. </span><span class="v44_21_20"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.20" class="v44_21_20">20</span>Everyone who heard this praised God and said to Paul:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_21_20">My friend, you can see how many tens of thousands of our people have become followers! And all of them are eager to obey the Law of Moses. </span><span class="v44_21_21"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.21" class="v44_21_21">21</span>But they have been told that you are teaching those who live among the Gentiles to disobey this Law. They claim that you are telling them not to circumcise their sons or to follow our customs.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_21_22"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.22" class="v44_21_22">22</span>What should we do now that our people have heard you are here? </span><span class="v44_21_23"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.23" class="v44_21_23">23</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.21.23!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Please do what we ask, because four of our men have made special promises to God. </span><span class="v44_21_24"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.24" class="v44_21_24">24</span>Join with them and prepare yourself for the ceremony that goes with the promises. Pay the cost for their heads to be shaved. Then everyone will learn that the reports about you are not true. They will know you do obey the Law of Moses.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_21_25"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.25" class="v44_21_25">25</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.21.25!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Some while ago we told the Gentile followers what we think they should do. We instructed them not to eat anything offered to idols. They were told not to eat any meat with blood still in it or the meat of an animal that has been strangled. They were also told not to commit any terrible sexual sins.<a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.21.25!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_26"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.26" class="v44_21_26">26</span>The next day Paul took the four men with him and got himself ready at the same time they did. Then he went into the temple and told when the final ceremony would take place and when an offering would be made for each of them.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Paul Is Arrested</h3><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_27"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.27" class="v44_21_27">27</span>When the period of seven days for the ceremony was almost over, some of the Jewish people from Asia saw Paul in the temple. They got a large crowd together and started attacking him. </span><span class="v44_21_28"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.28" class="v44_21_28">28</span>They were shouting, “Friends, help us! This man goes around everywhere, saying bad things about our nation and about the Law of Moses and about this temple. He has even brought shame to this holy temple by bringing in Gentiles.” </span><span class="v44_21_29"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.29" class="v44_21_29">29</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.21.29!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Some of them thought that Paul had brought Trophimus from Ephesus into the temple, because they had seen them together in the city.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_30"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.30" class="v44_21_30">30</span>The whole city was in an uproar, and the people turned into a mob. They grabbed Paul and dragged him out of the temple. Then suddenly the doors were shut. </span><span class="v44_21_31"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.31" class="v44_21_31">31</span>The people were about to kill Paul when the Roman army commander heard that all Jerusalem was starting to riot. </span><span class="v44_21_32"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.32" class="v44_21_32">32</span>So he quickly took some soldiers and officers and ran to where the crowd had gathered.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_32">As soon as the mob saw the commander and soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. </span><span class="v44_21_33"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.33" class="v44_21_33">33</span>The army commander went over and arrested him and had him bound with two chains. Then he tried to find out who Paul was and what he had done. </span><span class="v44_21_34"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.34" class="v44_21_34">34</span>Part of the crowd shouted one thing, and part of them shouted something else. But they were making so much noise that the commander could not find out a thing. Then he ordered Paul to be taken into the fortress. </span><span class="v44_21_35"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.35" class="v44_21_35">35</span>As they reached the steps, the crowd became so wild that the soldiers had to lift Paul up and carry him. </span><span class="v44_21_36"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.36" class="v44_21_36">36</span>The crowd followed and kept shouting, “Kill him! Kill him!”</span></p><h3 class="s1">Paul Speaks to the Crowd</h3><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_37"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.37" class="v44_21_37">37</span>When Paul was about to be taken into the fortress, he asked the commander, “Can I say something to you?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_37">“How do you know Greek?” the commander asked. </span><span class="v44_21_38"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.38" class="v44_21_38">38</span>“Aren't you that Egyptian who started a riot not long ago and led 4,000 terrorists into the desert?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_39"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.39" class="v44_21_39">39</span>“No!” Paul replied. “I am a Jew from Tarsus, an important city in Cilicia. Please let me speak to the crowd.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_21_40"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.21.40" class="v44_21_40">40</span>The commander told him he could speak, so Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the people. When they were quiet, he spoke to them in Aramaic:<a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.21.40!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p></div> </div> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">21.9 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">unmarried: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “virgin.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">21.18 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">James: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The Lord's brother.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">21.25 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">not to commit any terrible sexual sins: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 15.20.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">21.40 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Aramaic: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “Hebrew.” Aramaic is a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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