The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

The King of Glory Entering Zion.

A Psalm of David.

Prayer for Protection, Guidance, and Pardon.

A Psalm of David.

¹⁸ And the following day Paul went in with us to ^[a](A)James, and all ^(B)the elders were present. ¹⁹ After he had greeted them, he ^(C)began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ^(D)ministry. ²⁰ And when they heard about them, they began ^(E)glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many ^[b]thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all ^(F)zealous for the Law; ²¹ and they have been told about you, that you are ^(G)teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them ^(H)not to circumcise their children nor to ^[c]walk according to ^(I)the customs. ²² So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. ²³ Therefore, do ^[d]as we tell you: we have four men who ^(J)have a ^[e]vow upon themselves; ²⁴ take them along and ^(K)purify yourself together with them, and ^[f]pay their expenses so that they may ^(L)shave their ^[g]heads; and then everyone will know that there is nothing to what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also conform, keeping the Law. ²⁵ But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we sent a letter, ^(M)having decided that they should abstain from ^[h]meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and what is ^[i]strangled, and from sexual immorality.” ²⁶ Then Paul ^[j]took along the men, and the next day, after ^(N)purifying himself together with them, he ^(O)went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

Paul Seized in the Temple

²⁷ When ^(P)the seven days were almost over, ^(Q)the Jews from ^[k](R)Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, ²⁸ crying out, “Men of Israel, help! ^(S)This is the man who instructs everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has ^(T)defiled this holy place!” ²⁹ For they had previously seen ^(U)Trophimus the ^(V)Ephesian in the city with him, and they thought that Paul had brought him into the temple. ³⁰ Then the whole city was provoked and ^[l]the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they ^(W)dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. ³¹ While they were intent on killing him, a report came up to the commander of the ^(X)Roman ^[m]cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. ³² He immediately ^(Y)took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to ^[n]the crowd; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³ Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered that he be ^(Z)bound with ^(AA)two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ But among the crowd, ^(AB)some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the ^[o]facts because of the uproar, he ordered that ^[p]Paul be brought into ^(AC)the barracks. ³⁵ When Paul got to ^(AD)the stairs, it came about that he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the ^[q]mob; ³⁶ for the multitude of people kept following them, shouting, “^(AE)Away with him!”

³⁷ As Paul was about to be brought into ^(AF)the barracks, he *said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸ Then you are not ^(AG)the Egyptian who some ^[r]time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out ^(AH)into the wilderness?” ³⁹ But Paul said, “^(AI)I am a Jew of Tarsus in ^(AJ)Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” ⁴⁰ When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on ^(AK)the stairs, ^(AL)motioned to the people with his hand; and when there ^[s]was a great silence, he spoke to them in the ^[t](AM)Hebrew dialect, saying,