Bible Strands
Acts 28:16
When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records Paul's arrival in Rome immediately after the Italian brothers meet him at the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns. The account shifts from the journey's conclusion to Paul's initial status under Roman custody.
The words — The centurion (ἑκατόνταρχος, hekatontarchos) delivered (παρέδωκεν, paredōken) Paul to Roman authority. The verb denotes formal handing over or surrender into custody.
The thread — This guarded status echoes the centurion's prior treatment of Paul in Acts 27:3 and the earlier order in Acts 24:23 to maintain guard while permitting some freedom. It also precedes the extended two-year house arrest recorded in Acts 28:30.
Why it lands — The text states that Paul remained under guard yet was permitted to stay by himself. It requires the reader to recognize that physical restriction and divine preservation operate simultaneously without contradiction.
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 we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.
Cross-references
- Acts 27:3 The next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul with consideration, allowing him to visit his friends and receive their care.
- Acts 24:23 He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard, but to allow him some freedom and permit his friends to minister to his needs.
- Acts 28:30 Paul stayed there two full years in his own rented house, welcoming all who came to visit him.
- Romans 1:7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Genesis 37:36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
- Genesis 39:21 the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
- 2 Kings 25:8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 40:2 The captain of the guard found Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God decreed this disaster on this place,
- Acts 2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome,
- Acts 18:2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them,