Acts 21:27-29

21:27 When the seven days were almost over, ¹  the Jews from the province of Asia ²  who had seen him in the temple area ³  stirred up the whole crowd ⁴  and seized ⁵  him, 21:28 shouting, “Men of Israel, ⁶  help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, ⁷  and this sanctuary! ⁸  Furthermore ⁹  he has brought Greeks into the inner courts of the temple ¹⁰  and made this holy place ritually unclean!” ¹¹  21:29 (For they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him previously, and ¹²  they assumed Paul had brought him into the inner temple courts.) ¹³ 

[21:27]  ¹ tn BDAG 975 s.v. συντελέω 4 has “to come to an end of a duration, come to an end, be over…Ac 21:27.”

[21:27]  ² tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.

[21:27]  ³ tn Grk “in the temple.” See the note on the word “temple” in v. 28.

[21:27]  ⁴ tn Or “threw the whole crowd into consternation.” L&N 25.221 has “συνέχεον πάντα τὸν ὄχλον ‘they threw the whole crowd into consternation’ Ac 21:27. It is also possible to render the expression in Ac 21:27 as ‘they stirred up the whole crowd.’”

[21:27]  ⁵ tn Grk “and laid hands on.”

[21:28]  ⁶ tn Or “Israelite men,” although this is less natural English. The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context, it is conceivable that this is a generic usage since “the whole crowd” is mentioned in v. 27, although it can also be argued that these remarks were addressed primarily to the men present, even if women were there.

[21:28]  ⁷ sn The law refers to the law of Moses.

[21:28]  ⁸ tn Grk “this place.”

[21:28]  ⁹ tn BDAG 400 s.v. ἔτι 2.b has “ἔ. δὲ καί furthermore…al. ἔ. τε καί…Lk 14:26; Ac 21:28.” This is a continuation of the same sentence in Greek, but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[21:28]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “into the temple.” The specific reference is to the Court of the Sons of Israel (see the note following the term “unclean” at the end of this verse). To avoid giving the modern reader the impression that they entered the temple building itself, the phrase “the inner courts of the temple” has been used in the translation.

[21:28]  ¹¹ tn Or “and has defiled this holy place.”

[21:29]  ¹² tn Grk “whom.”

[21:29]  ¹³ tn On the phrase “inner temple courts” see the note on the word “temple” in v. 28.