Acts 21:1-29

1We said ‘goodbye’ to the leaders of the believers from Ephesus. Then we went on a ship straight across the sea, and we arrived at Cos. The next day, we continued on our journey to Rhodes. From there we went to the town of Patara.

2At Patara, we found a ship that was going to Phoenicia. So we got onto the ship and we sailed across the sea.

3After travelling for some time, we could see the island called Cyprus. We went south of Cyprus, and we continued as far as Syria. We arrived on the coast at the city of Tyre and we got off the ship. The ship would remain in Tyre for some days, because people had to remove the things off the ship.

4We found some believers in the city. So we stayed with them for a week. The Holy Spirit showed these believers that trouble would come to Paul in Jerusalem. So they said to him, ‘Paul, you should not to go to Jerusalem.’

5After a week with the believers in Tyre, it was time for us to leave them. All the believers, together with their wives and their children, went with us out of the city. At the beach, we all went down on our knees and we prayed together.

6Then we said ‘goodbye’ to each other and the believers returned to their homes in the city. We went and we got on the ship again, together with Paul.

7We continued our journey across the sea. We sailed from Tyre to Ptolemais. There, we met some believers and we stayed with them for one day.

8The next day, we left Ptolemais and we sailed to Caesarea. We stayed there with Philip. He was someone who taught people the good news about Jesus. He was one of the seven men that the believers had chosen in Jerusalem.

9He had four daughters who were not married. They spoke messages from God.

10We stayed with Philip in Caesarea for a few days. Then a man called Agabus arrived in the city from Judea. He was a prophet and he spoke messages from God.

11Agabus came to where we were. He took Paul's belt and he tied it around his own feet and hands. He said, ‘Listen to this message from the Holy Spirit. “The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will take hold of the man who has this belt. They will tie his hands and his feet. Then they will give him to the Gentiles to be their prisoner.” ’

12When we heard Agabus's message, we all said many times to Paul, ‘Please do not go to Jerusalem.’

13But Paul answered, ‘Stop crying like this! You are making me very sad! I am ready for men in Jerusalem to take hold of me. They may tie me up, and I may even die there. I am ready for all this because I believe in the Lord Jesus.’

14We could not cause Paul to think in a different way. So we stopped saying to him, ‘You should not go to Jerusalem.’ Instead we said to him, ‘We want the Lord God to do what he wants.’

15We stayed in Caesarea for a few days. Then we prepared ourselves to travel across land. We left there to go to Jerusalem.

16Some of the believers from Caesarea also went with us. They took us to the house of a man called Mnason. We had decided to stay with him. His home town was on the island called Cyprus. He had been a believer for a long time.

17When we arrived in Jerusalem, the believers there were very happy to welcome us.

18The next day, we went with Paul to see James. The leaders of the believers were also there.

19Paul said, ‘hello’ to them and then he told them everything about his work. God had helped him to do many good things for the Gentiles.

20After the leaders had listened to Paul, they praised God. Then they said, ‘Brother Paul, you can see the problem. There are now many thousands of Jews who have believed in Jesus. But they also really want to obey the Law of Moses.

21These Jews here have heard about what you teach Jewish people in other countries. They think that you say to them, “You do not need to obey the Law of Moses any longer. You do not need to circumcise your children. You do not need to live in the way that Jewish people usually live.”

22We need to do something about this problem. These Jewish believers will certainly hear that you are in Jerusalem.

23We will tell you what you must do. There are four Jewish men in our group who have made a promise to God.

24You must go with these men to the temple. There, they will wash to make themselves clean in front of God. Join with them when they do that. Then pay the priest the money for their sacrifices. After that, the men can cut the hair off their heads. When you do that, everyone will understand about you. They will see what you have done. They will know that you yourself obey the Law of Moses. They will know that what they have heard about you is not true.

25But it is different for the Gentiles who believe in Jesus. We have already sent a letter to them. We wrote, “Do not eat any food that people have given to their idols. Do not eat anything that still has blood in it. If people have strangled an animal to kill it, do not eat its meat. Do not have sex with anyone that you are not married to.” ’

26So the next day, Paul went with the four men. He joined with them when they washed to make themselves clean in front of God. Then he went into the yard of the temple. He told the priest there when the four men would finish their promise to God. This would be after seven days. After that, each man would give an animal as a sacrifice to God.

27At the end of those seven days, some Jews from Asia region saw Paul in the temple. They said some bad things against Paul to the crowd. So the people became angry and they took hold of Paul.

28The Jews from Asia shouted, ‘People of Israel, come and help us! This is the man who goes everywhere and he teaches everyone bad things. He speaks against us, the people of Israel. He also speaks against the Law of Moses and against this temple. Now he has even brought some Gentiles into this temple. So now this special place is not clean in front of God any longer.’

29(These men had earlier seen Paul in the city with a man called Trophimus. Trophimus was a Gentile who came from Ephesus. They thought that Paul had brought Trophimus into the temple. That is why they shouted bad things against Paul.)