Acts 21:30-36

21:30 The whole city was stirred up,¹ and the people rushed together.² They seized³ Paul and dragged him out of the temple courts,⁴ and immediately the doors were shut. 21:31 While they were trying⁵ to kill him, a report⁶ was sent up⁷ to the commanding officer⁸ of the cohort⁹ that all Jerusalem was in confusion.¹⁰ 21:32 He¹¹ immediately took¹² soldiers and centurions¹³ and ran down to the crowd.¹⁴ When they saw¹⁵ the commanding officer¹⁶ and the soldiers, they stopped beating¹⁷ Paul. 21:33 Then the commanding officer¹⁸ came up and arrested¹⁹ him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains;²⁰ he²¹ then asked who he was and what²² he had done. 21:34 But some in the crowd shouted one thing, and others something else,²³ and when the commanding officer²⁴ was unable²⁵ to find out the truth²⁶ because of the disturbance,²⁷ he ordered Paul²⁸ to be brought into the barracks.²⁹ 21:35 When he came to the steps, Paul³⁰ had to be carried³¹ by the soldiers because of the violence³² of the mob, 21:36 for a crowd of people³³ followed them,³⁴ screaming, “Away with him!”

¹tn On this term see BDAG 545 s.v. κινέω 2.b.

²tn Or “the people formed a mob.” BDAG 967 s.v. συνδρομή has “formation of a mob by pers. running together, running together…ἐγένετο σ. τοῦ λαοῦ the people rushed together Ac 21:30.”

³tn Grk “and seizing.” The participle ἐπιλαβόμενοι (epilabomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun in the translation, and καί (kai) has not been translated here.

⁴tn Grk “out of the temple.” See the note on the word “temple” in v. 28.

⁵tn Grk “seeking.”

⁶tn Or “information” (originally concerning a crime; BDAG 1050 s.v. φάσις).

⁷tn Grk “went up”; this verb is used because the report went up to the Antonia Fortress where the Roman garrison was stationed.

⁸tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militare, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.

⁹sn A cohort was a Roman military unit of about 600 soldiers, one-tenth of a legion.

¹⁰tn BDAG 953 s.v. συγχέω has “Pass. w. act.force be in confusion…ὅλη συγχύννεται ᾿Ιερουσαλήμ 21:31.”

¹¹tn Grk “who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated as a pronoun (“he”) and a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

¹²tn Grk “taking…ran down.” The participle κατέδραμεν (katedramen) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

¹³sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

¹⁴tn Grk “to them”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵tn Grk “seeing.” The participle ἰδόντες (idonte") has been taken temporally.

¹⁶tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.

¹⁷sn The mob stopped beating Paul because they feared the Romans would arrest them for disturbing the peace and for mob violence. They would let the Roman officials take care of the matter from this point on.

¹⁸tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.

¹⁹tn Grk “seized.”

²⁰tn The two chains would be something like handcuffs (BDAG 48 s.v. ἅλυσις and compare Acts 28:20).

²¹tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun in the translation, and καί (kai) has been replaced with a semicolon. “Then” has been supplied after “he” to clarify the logical sequence.

²²tn Grk “and what it is”; this has been simplified to “what.”

²³tn L&N 33.77 has “ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλο τι ἐπεφώνουν ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ‘some in the crowd shouted one thing; others, something else’ Ac 21:34.”

²⁴tn Grk “he”; the referent (the commanding officer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁵tn This genitive absolute construction has been translated temporally; it could also be taken causally: “and since the commanding officer was unable to find out the truth.”

²⁶tn Or “find out what had happened”; Grk “the certainty” (BDAG 147 s.v. ἀσφαλής 2).

²⁷tn Or “clamor,” “uproar” (BDAG 458 s.v. θόρυβος).

²⁸tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁹tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”

³⁰tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³¹sn Paul had to be carried. Note how the arrest really ended up protecting Paul. The crowd is portrayed as irrational at this point.

³²tn This refers to mob violence (BDAG 175 s.v. βία b).

³³tn Grk “the multitude of people.” While πλῆθος (plhqo") is articular, it has been translated “a crowd” since it was probably a subset of the larger mob that gathered in v. 30.

³⁴tn The word “them” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.