Acts 21:27

When the seven days were almost over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The narrator places Paul in the Jerusalem temple courts as a seven-day purification ritual nears completion, when Jews from Asia observe him and trigger a mob seizure.

The words — The Greek ἔμελλον συντελεῖσθαι (emellon suntelisthai) literally means "were about to be completed," marking the precise temporal boundary before the ceremony ends. This phrasing emphasizes that the danger erupts at the threshold of ritual fulfillment rather than after it.

The thread — The same pattern of temple-based seizure and false accusation appears in Acts 24:18 and Acts 26:21, where Paul later defends himself against identical charges. Acts 13:50 shows how Jewish opposition routinely incited civic authorities to pursue similar actions.

Why it lands — The text records a factual sequence: ritual observance ends, opposition watches, and violence follows. It demands the reader recognize that faithful compliance with religious obligations does not immunize a person from manufactured hostility.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

And 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,

Cross-references

Acts 24:18 At the time they found me in the temple, I was ceremonially clean and was not inciting a crowd or an uproar. But there are some Jews from the province of Asia
Acts 26:21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.
Acts 13:50 The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.
1 Kings 21:25 (Surely there was never one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, incited by his wife Jezebel.
Luke 21:12 But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. On account of My name they will deliver you to the synagogues and prisons, and they will bring you before kings and governors.
Acts 4:3 They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in custody until the next day.
Acts 5:18 and arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
Acts 6:12 So they stirred up the people, elders, and scribes and confronted Stephen. They seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin,
Acts 14:2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
Acts 14:5 But when the Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, set out to mistreat and stone them,