18. On the next day, Paul went in with us to Jacob; all the elders were present.
19. After greeting them, he reported to them in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his service.
20. And when they heard, they began glorifying God. They said, “You see, brother, how many myriads there are among the Jewish people who have believed—and they are all zealous for the Torah.
21. They have been told about you—that you teach all the Jewish people among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to walk according to the customs.
22. What’s to be done then? No doubt they will hear that you have come.
23. “So do what we tell you. We have four men who have a vow on themselves.
24. Take them, and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. That way, all will realize there is nothing to the things they have been told about you, but that you yourself walk in an orderly manner, keeping the Torah.
25. “As for Gentiles who have believed, however, we have written by letter what we decided—for them to abstain from what is offered to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from immorality.”
26. The next day Paul took the men, purifying himself along with them. He went into the Temple, announcing when the days of purification would be completed and the sacrifice would be offered for each one of them.
27. When the seven days were about to be completed, the Jewish leaders from Asia saw Paul in the Temple and began stirring up the whole crowd. They grabbed him,
28. shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching all men everywhere against our people and the Torah and this place. Besides, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and defiled this holy place!”
29. For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they assumed that Paul had brought him into the Temple.
30. The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They grabbed Paul and dragged him out of the Temple, and the gates were shut at once.
31. As they were trying to kill him, news came to the commander of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in chaos.
32. Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and rushed down to them. Upon seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
33. Then the commander came up, arrested Paul, ordered him to be bound with two chains, and began investigating what he had done.
34. Some in the crowd shouted one thing, and some another. As he could not determine the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into headquarters.
35. When he came to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd.
36. For the multitude of people that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”