Acts 21:17–31

¹⁷When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us joyfully. ¹⁸The next day Paul went in with us to see James, and all the elders were present. ¹⁹Paul greeted them and recounted one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰When they heard this, they glorified God. Then they said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. ²¹But they are under the impression that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe our customs. ²²What then should we do? They will certainly hear that you have come.

²³Therefore do what we advise you. There are four men with us who have taken a vow. ²⁴Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.

²⁵As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶So the next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he entered the temple to give notice of the date when their purification would be complete and the offering would be made for each of them.

²⁷When the seven days were almost over, some Jews from the province of Asia^b saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, ²⁸crying out, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” ²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. ³¹While they were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment^c received a report that all Jerusalem was in turmoil.