Bible Strands
Acts 21:31
While they were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment received a report that all Jerusalem was in turmoil.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the moment Paul is seized by a Jerusalem mob attempting to kill him and the Roman commander learns of the citywide unrest.
The words — ζητοῦντων (zētountōn) means "of them seeking" and ἀποκτεῖναι (apokteinai) means "to kill," establishing the mob’s immediate lethal intent.
The thread — The escalation of crowd violence against a faithful witness mirrors the jealousy-driven unrest in Acts 17:5 and aligns with Paul’s later accounting of his former persecution in Acts 26:9.
Why it lands — The text reports that Roman military intervention halts the beating only after the commander receives news of the wider riot. It asks readers to observe that political force, not human defense, stops the violence at this moment.
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 as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
Cross-references
- 2 Corinthians 11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.
- Acts 17:5 The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.
- Acts 26:9 So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
- 1 Kings 1:41 Now Adonijah and all his guests were finishing their feast when they heard the sound of the ram’s horn. “Why is the city in such a loud uproar?” asked Joab.
- Matthew 26:5 “But not during the feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
- Mark 14:2 “But not during the feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
- John 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
- John 18:12 Then the band of soldiers, with its commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him.
- Acts 10:1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment.
- Acts 19:40 For we are in jeopardy of being charged with rioting for today’s events, and we have no justification to account for this commotion.”