使徒行傳21:27-40

 

21:27 那七日將完，從亞細亞來的猶太人看見保羅在殿裡，就聳動了眾人，下手拿他，
21:28 喊叫說：「以色列人來幫助，這就是在各處教訓眾人糟踐我們百姓和律法，並這地方的。他又帶著希臘人進殿，污穢了這聖地。」
21:29 （這話是因他們曾看見以弗所人特羅非摩同保羅在城裡，以為保羅帶他進了殿。）
21:30 合城都震動，百姓一齊跑來，拿住保羅，拉他出殿，殿門立刻都關了。
21:31 他們正想要殺他，有人報信給營裡的千夫長說：「耶路撒冷合城都亂了。」
21:32 千夫長立時帶著兵丁和幾個百夫長，跑下去到他們那裡。他們見了千夫長和兵丁，就止住不打保羅。
21:33 於是千夫長上前拿住他，吩咐用兩條鐵鍊捆鎖；又問他是甚麼人，做的是甚麼事。
21:34 眾人有喊叫這個的，有喊叫那個的；千夫長因為這樣亂嚷，得不著實情，就吩咐人將保羅帶進營樓去。
21:35 到了臺階上，眾人擠得兇猛，兵丁只得將保羅抬起來。
21:36 眾人跟在後面，喊著說：「除掉他！」
21:37 將要帶他進營樓，保羅對千夫長說：「我對你說句話可以不可以？」他說：「你懂得希臘話嗎？
21:38 你莫非是從前作亂、帶領四千兇徒往曠野去的那埃及人嗎？」
21:39 保羅說：「我本是猶太人，生在基利家的大數，並不是無名小城的人。求你准我對百姓說話。」
21:40 千夫長准了。保羅就站在臺階上，向百姓擺手，他們都靜默無聲，保羅便用希伯來話對他們說：

 

²⁷ When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, ²⁸ shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” ²⁹ (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)

³⁰ The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. ³¹ While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. ³² He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³ The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. ³⁵ When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. ³⁶ The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”

³⁷ As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”

“Do you speak Greek?” he replied. ³⁸ “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?”

³⁹ Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰ After receiving the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic^[a]:

 

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    保羅陷在這種無妄之災的處境，讓人覺得要改變世界實在不容易，尤其是面對一群心中充滿錯誤信仰的人，更是辛苦！這也是為甚麼要與那些受意識形態綑綁的人爭戰不容易之處！

 

    求主保守我們，在這樣的狀態之中，能夠靈巧的對付，將一切的結果交託上帝！