²⁵ When they tied Paul down to lash him, Paul said to the officer^[a] standing there, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?”

²⁶ When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked, “What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen!”

²⁷ So the commander went over and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes, I certainly am,” Paul replied.

²⁸ “I am, too,” the commander muttered, “and it cost me plenty!”

Paul answered, “But I am a citizen by birth!”

²⁹ The soldiers who were about to interrogate Paul quickly withdrew when they heard he was a Roman citizen, and the commander was frightened because he had ordered him bound and whipped.

³¹ As they were trying to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman regiment that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. ³² He immediately called out his soldiers and officers^[a] and ran down among the crowd. When the mob saw the commander and the troops coming, they stopped beating Paul.

³³ Then the commander arrested him and ordered him bound with two chains. He asked the crowd who he was and what he had done.

⁶ Furthermore, he was trying to desecrate the Temple when we arrested him.^[a]

¹⁰ As the conflict grew more violent, the commander was afraid they would tear Paul apart. So he ordered his soldiers to go and rescue him by force and take him back to the fortress.