Acts 21:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

NIV: Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, 'The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.''

NASB: And he came to us and took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, 'This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.’?'

CSB: He came to us, took Paul's belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: 'In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.' "

NLT: He came over, took Paul’s belt, and bound his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, 'The Holy Spirit declares, ‘So shall the owner of this belt be bound by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles.’'

KJV: And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

NKJV: When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”

Paul and his companions are only a few days from Jerusalem. They have sailed from Troas, on the northeast coast of the Aegean Sea, to Caesarea Maritima; from here, they walk. Before they leave, however, the prophet Agabus arrives with a warning.

Paul knows he will be arrested when he reaches Jerusalem; the Holy Spirit has been preparing him for months (Acts 20:22–24). In addition, the Holy Spirit told prophets in Tyre as well as Philip's four daughters (Acts 21:3–4, 9). Agabus' prophesy is a bit more dramatic, and very specific. It's also metaphorical. When the mob attacks Paul, they drag him out of the temple and beat him. The Roman tribune must take Paul from the crowd and then orders his hands be bound in two chains (Acts 21:30–33). There's no indication the Jews tie Paul with a belt—although they may have—or voluntarily hand him over to the guards. They "deliver" Paul in that they create a situation which ends with him in Roman custody. That doesn't mean the prophecy is false; the point was that Paul would be arrested, not that some specific material would bind his hands.

Agabus is from a long list of great performance-artist prophets. Isaiah had to walk around without most of his clothes (Isaiah 20:2). Jeremiah had to walk all the way to the Euphrates River to bury a loincloth (Jeremiah 13:1–7). Ezekiel had to make a diorama of Jerusalem, lie on one side for 390 days and the other for 40 days, and pretend to escape out of a hole in the wall of his house (Ezekiel 4:1–8; 12:3–7).

As in Tyre, when the church fully understands what Paul will face, they try to convince him to stay. Paul refuses. He says, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 21:13). He understands the Holy Spirit warns him so that he may prepare for what is coming, not escape it.

Acts 21:7–16 records Paul and his companions stopping in Caesarea Maritima. They are there briefly with the evangelist Philip before finally arriving in Jerusalem. For months, now, the Holy Spirit has warned Paul that when he reaches Jerusalem, he will be imprisoned and afflicted (Acts 20:22–23). The church in Tyre tried to stop him from going; the church in Caesarea will beg him. Paul reorients their concerns: Jesus comes first and if Jesus wants him to be imprisoned, he will serve his Savior in prison. The Holy Spirit's influence is meant to prepare Paul, not discourage him.

In Acts 21, Paul returns to Judea from his third missionary journey and promptly gets arrested. He begins by visiting Philip in Caesarea Maritima. Church elders in Jerusalem ask Paul to help men fulfill a Nazirite vow, to dispel rumors he has apostatized his Jewishness. While doing so, Ephesian Jews accuse Paul of bringing one of his Gentile Ephesian companions into the temple. The Roman military tribune keeps the enraged crowd from tearing Paul limb from limb by arresting him.

Acts 21 fulfills the fears of many of Paul's friends. Throughout the last part of his third missionary journey the Holy Spirit has been telling him he will be arrested in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23–25). When Paul reacts to dire personal prophecy, the Jesus-followers in Caesarea Maritima try to stop him from going on (Acts 21:8–14). Through a complicated trail of rumors, lies, and wrong assumptions, things go according to the Holy Spirit's foreknowledge and Roman soldiers arrest Paul. He will face the next 5 years in custody in Caesarea and Rome, but he will spread Jesus' story the entire time (Acts 22—28).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.