1When we had departed from them and had set sail, we came with a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2Having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. 3When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for the ship was there to unload her cargo. 4Having found disciples, we stayed there seven days. These said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. 5When those days were over, we departed and went on our journey. They all, with wives and children, brought us on our way until we were out of the city. Kneeling down on the beach, we prayed. 6After saying goodbye to each other, we went on board the ship, and they returned home again.
7When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. We greeted the brothers and stayed with them one day. 8On the next day, we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea.
We entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. 10As we stayed there some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11Coming to us and taking Paul’s belt, he bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says: ‘So the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt, and will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”
12When we heard these things, both we and the people of that place begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
14When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The Lord’s will be done.”
15After these days we took up our baggage and went up to Jerusalem. 16Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us, bringing one Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we would stay.
17When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. 18The day following, Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present. 19When he had greeted them, he reported one by one the things which God had worked among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20They, when they heard it, glorified God. They said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. 21They have been informed about you, that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children and not to walk after the customs. 22What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. 23Therefore do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. 24Take them and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses for them, that they may shave their heads. Then all will know that there is no truth in the things that they have been informed about you, but that you yourself also walk keeping the law. 25But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written our decision that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from food offered to idols, from blood, from strangled things, and from sexual immorality.”
26Then Paul took the men, and the next day purified himself and went with them into the temple, declaring the fulfillment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them. 27When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the multitude and laid hands on him, 28crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place. Moreover, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place!” 29For they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian, with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
30All the city was moved and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple. Immediately the doors were shut. 31As they were trying to kill him, news came up to the commanding officer of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. They, when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, stopped beating Paul. 33Then the commanding officer came near, arrested him, commanded him to be bound with two chains, and inquired who he was and what he had done. 34Some shouted one thing and some another, among the crowd. When he couldn’t find out the truth because of the noise, he commanded him to be brought into the barracks.
35When he came to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd; 36for the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Away with him!” 37As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he asked the commanding officer, “May I speak to you?”
He said, “Do you know Greek? 38Aren’t you then the Egyptian who before these days stirred up to sedition and led out into the wilderness the four thousand men of the Assassins?”
39But Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”
40When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, beckoned with his hand to the people. When there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying,
Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia and the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, appears five times in the Bible, each reference in the Book of Acts (9:11, 30; 11:25; 21:39; 22:3). In Acts 21:39, Paul accurately described Tarsus as "no mean (literally 'insignificant' or 'undistinguished') city." Paul accurately capsulated the importance of Tarsus in his day, as it was one of three cities (along with Athens and Alexandria) with vaunted medical schools and, according to Strabo, boasted an intellectual climate surpassing even Athens and Alexandria in culture and learning (Geog. 14.5.131).
Tarsus' natural features promoted its commercial growth. Located on both sides of the Cnydus River, twelve miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea, the city was accessible to sea-going vessels, allowing for extensive maritime trade. Located twenty-five miles south of the Cilician Gates, the only major pass through the Taurus mountain range, the city, commercially, was called a place where "east meets west." Although by legend the city was founded by Perseus and Hercules, the site was likely colonized by Ionian Greeks (some surmise that Tarsus is Tarshish, one of the sons of Javan, founder of the Greeks; Gen 10:4). The first written historical record is in the Assyrian annals of Shalmaneser III (859-824 B.C.), who referenced Tarsus on the Black Obelisk as a conquest. The city is also mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Sennacherib (704-681 B.C.) and the Spartan historian-general Xenophon (Anabasis 1.2), who described the city as prosperous. Alexander thwarted the scorched policy of the Persians initiated by Memnon, the Macedonian mercenary, by preventing the Persians from burning the city in 333 B.C., during his march through Asia Minor toward the Battle of Issus. Passing from Alexander's hegemony to the Seleucid dynasty, the city was renamed Antioch on the Cydnus under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.).
Pompey annexed the city for Rome in 67 B.C., with the famed Cicero serving as proconsul from 51-50 B.C. In the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey in 47 B.C., Tarsus renamed itself "Juliopolis." As the city sided with Mark Antony over Cassius, Antony rewarded it with "free city" status - exemption from taxation. Here Antony first courted Cleopatra in 41 B.C., where she arrived on her vessel arrayed as Aphrodite.
Tarsus' sophisticated and varied culture provided Paul the rearing and training to have the versatility to reach both Jew and Gentile, both the educated and mean, aristocrat and tradesman, eastern and western, and rich and poor. Tarsus was a center of Greek Stoic philosophy, hosted the latest in the arts, such as Cilician poets, was an east-west crossroads of trade, and whose citizens possessed Roman rights and citizenry. All this, combined with learning Jewish theology and Law at the feet of Gamaliel in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3), meant Paul was uniquely equipped with a level of remarkable versatility, both to comprehend and to communicate the Gospel, fructifying a powerful Apostleship (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10).