Acts 21:27
What does Acts 21:27 mean?
A plain-English look at Acts 21:27 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Acts 21:27 means
As the seven days of purification near completion, Jews from Asia see Paul in the temple, stir up the crowd, and seize him. Their long-standing opposition resurfaces in the holiest place. The timing is striking: just as a vow concludes, violence begins. Paul’s effort to show respect is met with hostility. The agitators exploit the crowded festival atmosphere to inflame passions. This is not an honest inquiry but a calculated move. The suffering predicted by the Spirit now arrives. Yet even in riot and arrest, God is guiding events so that Paul will bear witness before rulers and ultimately in Rome.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And when the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the multitude and laid hands on him,
KJV
King James Version · 1611And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And when the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the multitude and laid hands on him,
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the Temple, got the people together and put their hands on him,
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And, as the seven days were about to be fully ended, the Jews from Asia having beheld him in the temple, were stirring up all the multitude, and they laid hands upon him,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752But when the seven days were drawing to an end, those Jews that were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands upon him, crying out:
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And when the seven days were nearly completed, the Jews from Asia, having seen him in the temple, set all the crowd in a tumult, and laid hands upon him,
Context
This verse opens the crisis that fulfills earlier warnings (verses 4, 11). It follows Paul’s participation in the temple rites (verse 26) and leads directly to the accusations shouted in verse 28. Verse 29 explains the supposed evidence behind the charge. Verses 30–31 show the riot spreading and an attempt to kill Paul, which triggers Roman intervention. The narrative pivots from internal church unity efforts to external persecution.
v.26Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them went into the temple, declaring the fulfilment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them.
v.27This passage
v.28crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place; and moreover he brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath defiled this holy place.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Acts 24:18
amidst which they found me purified in the temple, with no crowd, nor yet with tumult: but there were certain Jews from Asia—
- Acts 17:5
But the Jews, being moved with jealousy, took unto them certain vile fellows of the rabble, and gathering a crowd, set the city on an uproar; and assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them forth to the people.
- Acts 14:5
And when there was made an onset both of the Gentiles and of the Jews with their rulers, to treat them shamefully and to stone them,
- Acts 17:13
But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed of Paul at Beroea also, they came thither likewise, stirring up and troubling the multitudes.
- Acts 5:18
and laid hands on the apostles, and put them in public ward.
- Acts 6:12
And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and seized him, and brought him into the council,
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