Acts 21:31–40

³¹While they were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment^c received a report that all Jerusalem was in turmoil. ³²Immediately he took some soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, and some another. And since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. ³⁵When Paul reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. ³⁶For the crowd that followed him kept shouting, “Away with him!”

³⁷As they were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”

“Do you speak Greek?” he replied. ³⁸“Aren’t you the Egyptian who incited a rebellion some time ago and led four thousand members of the Assassins into the wilderness?”

³⁹But Paul answered, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Now I beg you to allow me to speak to the people.”

⁴⁰Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:^d