When the seven days were nearly
over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple.
They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, "Men
of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere
against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has
brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy
place." (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the
city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple
area.)
City in aroused
The whole city was aroused, and
the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they
dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut.
While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of
the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.
He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the
crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they
stopped beating Paul.
Paul is arrested
The commander came up and
arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he
asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one
thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the
truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the
barracks.
When Paul reached the steps, the violence
of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers.
The crowd that followed kept shouting,
"Away with him!"
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