Paul Visits James

¹⁷In Jerusalem the believers were very happy to see us. ¹⁸The next day, Paul went with us to visit James. All the elders* (church leaders) were there too. ¹⁹Paul greeted all of them. Then he told them about how God used him to do many things among the non-Jewish people. He told them all the things that God did through him. ²⁰When the leaders heard these things, they praised God. Then they said to Paul, "Brother, you can see that thousands of Jews have become believers. But they think it is very important to obey the law of Moses. ²¹These Jews have heard about your teaching. They heard that you tell the Jews who live in other countries among non-Jews to leave the law of Moses. They heard that you tell those Jews not to circumcise* their children and not to obey Jewish customs. ²²What should we do? The Jewish believers here will learn that you have come. ²³So we will tell you what to do: Four of our men have made a vow* (promise) to God. ²⁴Take these men with you and share in their cleansing (washing) ceremony.* Pay their expenses. Then they can shave their heads.* Do this and it will prove to everyone that the things they have heard about you are not true. They will see that you obey the law of Moses in your own life. ²⁵We have already sent a letter to the non-Jewish believers. The letter said: 'Don't eat food that has been given to idols.* Don't eat meat from animals that have been strangled (choked) or any meat that still has the blood in it. Don't do any kind of sexual sin.'" ²⁶So Paul took the four men with him. The next day, Paul shared in their cleansing (washing) ceremony.* Then he went to the temple* area. He announced the time when the days of the cleansing ceremony would be finished. On the last day an offering would be given for each of the men. ²⁷The seven days were almost finished. But some Jews from Asia* saw Paul in the temple* area. They caused all the people to be upset, and they grabbed Paul. ²⁸They shouted, "You Jewish men, help us! This is the man who is teaching things that are against the law of Moses, against our people, and against this place (the temple). This man is teaching these things to all people everywhere. And now he has brought some Greek (non-Jewish) men into the temple yard! He has made this holy place unclean!" ²⁹(The Jews said this because they had seen Trophimus with Paul in Jerusalem. Trophimus was a [Greek] man from Ephesus. The Jews thought that Paul had taken him into the holy area of the temple.) ³⁰All the people in Jerusalem became very upset. They all ran and grabbed Paul. They dragged him out of the holy area of the temple.* The temple gates were closed immediately. ³¹The people were trying to kill Paul. The commander of the Roman army in Jerusalem learned that there was trouble in the whole city. ³²Immediately the commander went to the place where the people were. He brought some army officers* and soldiers with him. The people saw the commander and his soldiers. So they stopped beating Paul. ³³The commander went to Paul and arrested him. The commander told his soldiers to tie Paul with two chains. Then the commander asked, "Who is this man? What has he done wrong?" ³⁴Some people there were yelling one thing and other people were yelling other things. Because of all this confusion and shouting, the commander could not learn the truth about what had happened. So the commander told the soldiers to take Paul to the army building. ^35-36All the people were following them. When the soldiers came to the steps, they had to carry Paul. They did this [to protect Paul], because the people were ready to hurt him. The people shouted, "Kill him!" ³⁷The soldiers were ready to take Paul into the army building. But Paul spoke to the commander. Paul asked, "Do I have the right to say something to you?" The commander said, "Oh, you speak Greek? ³⁸Then you are not the man I thought you were? I thought you were the Egyptian man who started some trouble against the government not long ago. That Egyptian man led 4,000 killers out to the desert." ³⁹Paul said, "No, I am a Jewish man from Tarsus. Tarsus is in the country of Cilicia. I am a citizen of that important city. Please, let me speak to the people." ⁴⁰The commander let Paul speak to the people. So Paul stood on the steps. He made signs with his hands so that the people would be quiet. The people became quiet and Paul spoke to them. He used the Jewish language.*

elders A group of men chosen to lead a church. Also called "overseers" and "pastors" ("shepherds"), they have the work of caring for God's people (Acts 20:28; Eph. 4:11; Tit. 1:7,9). circumcise To cut off the foreskin. This was done to every Jewish baby boy. It was a mark of the agreement God made with Abraham (Gen. 17:9-14). vow Probably a Nazirite vow, a time of special service that Jews promised to give to God. cleansing ceremony The special things the Jews did to end the Nazirite vow. shave their heads To show their vow was finished. idols The false gods that the non-Jewish people worshiped. cleansing ceremony The special things the Jews did to end the Nazirite vow. temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship. Asia The western part of Asia Minor. army officers Centurions, Roman army officers who had authority over 100 soldiers. Jewish language Probably Aramaic, a language like Hebrew that was spoken by the Jews in the first century.