^6 (A)He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, ^[a]and wanted ^(B)to judge him according to our law.

^12 (A)And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city.

¹⁰ Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.

The Plot Against Paul

¹¹ But ^(A)the following night the Lord stood by him and said, ^[a]“Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in ^(B)Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at ^(C)Rome.”

¹² And when it was day, ^(D)some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had ^(E)killed Paul. ¹³ Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy. ¹⁴ They came to the chief priests and ^(F)elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ Now you, therefore, together with the council, suggest to the commander that he be brought down to you ^[b]tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him; but we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

²⁷ Now when the seven days were almost ended, ^(A)the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and ^(B)laid hands on him, ²⁸ crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man ^(C)who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” ²⁹ (For they had ^[a]previously seen ^(D)Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)

³⁰ And ^(E)all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut. ³¹ Now as they were ^(F)seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the ^[b]garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. ^32 (G)He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³⁷ For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of ^[a]your goddess.

⁷ The Jews answered him, ^(A)“We have a law, and according to ^[a]our law He ought to die, because ^(B)He made Himself the Son of God.”

⁸ Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid,

³¹ Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.”

Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,”

²³ Then, as they cried out and ^[a]tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air,