Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Acts 21:12

in Acts 21

When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.

KJV

And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.

⋯

This verse in Acts 21

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Acts · Written before 1107.

The others wept, but Paul comforted them: and he who did not fear his own trials grieved on account of their tears.

This site's exposition

pleaded with Paul not to go

on Acts 21:12-14

Paul answered that he was ready to be bound and also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. When he would not be dissuaded, they prayed that the Lord’s will be done, as Jesus prayed in Gethsemane.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 45 · Written before 407.

proposed

"And," what is the grievous part of the business, "deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem." Many even besought him not to depart, and still he would not comply. They said, "Adventure not thyself into the theatre, and he did not adventure": often they bore him off from dangers, and he complied: again he escaped by a window: and now, though numberless persons, so to say, beseech him, both those at Tyre and those at Caesarea, weeping also and predicting numberless dangers, he refuses to comply. And yet it is not merely, they predicted the dangers, but "said by the Spirit." If then the Spirit bade, why did he gainsay?

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And when we heard these things,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Here appeared a commendable affection to Paul, and a value for him, upon account of his great usefulness in the church. Good men that are very active sometimes need to be dissuaded from overworking themselves, and good men that are very bold need to be dissuaded from exposing themselves too far. The Lord is for the body, and so we must be.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Besought him not to go up to Jerusalem - For they all understood the prophecy to be conditional and contingent; and that it was in Paul’s power to turn the scale.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

So shall the Jews bind the man that owneth this girdle, &c.--For though the Romans did it, it was at the Jews' instigation (Ac 21:33; Such dramatic methods of announcing important future events would bring the old prophets to remembrance.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

The words behind it

16 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Acts 21:4

    We sought out the disciples in Tyre and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they kept telling Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

    it leads to

    • Acts 20:22–23

      And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.

    • Acts 21:10–12

      After we had been there several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

    • Acts 20:6–7

      And after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi, and five days later we rejoined them in Troas, where we stayed seven days.

    • Matthew 10:11

      Whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy there and stay at his house until you move on.

  • Through

    Acts 20:22

    And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.

    it leads to

    • James 4:14

      You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

    • 2 Corinthians 5:14

      For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.

    • Luke 18:31–33

      Then Jesus took the Twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything the prophets have written about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.

    • 2 Peter 1:14

      because I know that this tent will soon be laid aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

Where this verse is studied

About Acts

The Pentecost, El Greco, about 1600, Museo del Prado. Public domain.
The Pentecost, El Greco, about 1600, Museo del Prado. Public domain.
Acts: the study guide →Read Acts 21 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 45; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts.

Read on in Acts 21 →