21:28a

Men of Israel: This phrase in Greek is literally “Men, Israelites.” It only refers to one group, the crowd in the temple area. So many English versions combine the two words into one phrase, as the Berean Standard Bible does. But in some languages a literal translation has the correct meaning. For example:

Men/People, Israelites!

They probably expected only men to come and help.

help us: The Berean Standard Bible adds the word us. It is implied from the context.

help: Here this command indicates that the men want help in a situation of urgency and great need. The Jews of Asia thought that Paul taught people that the Jewish religion was wrong (21:28b–c). They also thought that he had defiled the temple (21:28d–e). So they wanted people to help remove Paul from the temple area. They also wanted them to help kill him for those things that they thought he had done.

Here it is best to translate without explaining why they wanted the others to help, because 21:28b–e explains that. Also see General Comment on 21:28a–e below.

21:28b–c

This is the man who teaches everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place: Here the word against indicates that the Jews from Asia thought that Paul opposed the Jewish people, their law, and their temple. They thought he taught that the Jewish religion was wrong. Other ways to translate this clause are:

This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against the Jewish people, Moses’ Teachings, and this temple. (God’s Word)
-or-
This is the man who is teaching everybody everywhere to despise our people, our Law and this place. (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
this is the one who is teaching all people that we Jews are evil and evil moreover is the law of Moses and our Temple
-or-
this is the man who teaches everyone that our people, our law and this place are worthless
-or-
this is the man who says bad things to everyone about our people, our law and this place

teaches everywhere: Paul had not taught everywhere. But the Jews of Asia used the word everywhere to indicate that they thought that Paul’s teaching had great effect.

In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that Paul taught every man on earth. If that is true in your language, indicate the meaning without the figure of speech. For example:

teaches people in all the places he has been

our people: Here this phrase refers to the Jewish people in general. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer only to the Jews of Asia. If that is true in your language, indicate the correct meaning. For example:

us Jewish people
-or-
the people of Israel (Good News Translation)

21:28c

our law: This phrase refers to the Jewish law. This should be clear from earlier verses. But in some languages a literal translation would refer to something else. If that is true in your language, indicate the correct meaning. For example:

our law ⌊that Moses gave to us⌋
-or-
our ⌊Jewish⌋ law/laws

this place: This phrase refers to the Jewish temple. This should be clear from earlier verses. But in some languages a literal translation would refer to something else. If that is true in your language, indicate the correct meaning. For example:

this Temple (Contemporary English Version)
-or-

⌊our⌋ temple here

21:28d

Furthermore: Here this phrase indicates that the Jews of Asia accused Paul of something else. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

moreover (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
And what is more
-or-
And now he has even brought (Good News Translation)

he has brought: The Jews of Asia claimed that Paul took Greeks into the temple area before this time. There were no Greeks with Paul at this time.

Greeks: Here this word probably refers to people of Greece or people who spoke Greek as their first language. The city of Ephesus (21:29a) was Greek city. Other ways to translate this word are:

people of Greece
-or-
Greek people

Some scholars think it refers more generally to non-Jews here (but it is not the usual Greek word for non-Jews). For example:

Gentiles (Good News Translation)

into the temple: Non-Jews/Gentiles were only allowed in the courtyard of Gentiles. So this phrase implies a part of the temple area where they were not allowed.

21:28e

and defiled this holy place: 21:28e is the implied result of 21:28d. The clause defiled this holy place is not a separate action from “brought Greeks into the temple area.”

In some languages a literal translation of and would wrongly indicate that Paul did two different deeds. If that is true in your language, indicate that 21:28e is the result of 21:28d. For example:

and so defiled this holy place

defiled: This word means “to cause something to become unclean or unacceptable to be used for worship.” The Jewish law did not allow foreigners to enter many of the areas of the temple. If they did enter, they defiled it, because they did not belong to the Jewish religion. Other ways to translate this word are:

made impure/unclean/filthy
-or-
spoiled the holiness/cleanness
-or-
caused this holy place to be unholy/bad
-or-
damaged the holiness of this place

this holy place: This phrase refers to the temple. In your translation you may want to make it clear by saying:

this holy temple

holy: The word holy has the meaning of “dedicated to God,” “reserved for God,” or “set apart for God.” The temple was holy since it was the place where he was present in a special way. It was also the place where people worshiped God. They were not to do other things there. Other ways to translate this word are:

sacred

General Comment on 21:28a–e

Most Jews of that time were very committed to their religion. They would be very upset with someone who said their religion was bad. They were also very committed to keeping the temple area holy.

In some languages people will not realize that these words of the Jews of Asia were meant to make the crowd upset and angry. You may want to:

• Explain this using a footnote. An example footnote is:

The Jews believed that Gentile peoples were ritually unclean and that they would cause the temple to be ritually unclean if they entered it. Jews had the right to kill any Gentile that entered the inner courts of the temple.

• Explain some of this information in your translation. For example:

This is the man who teaches all men everywhere to call our people and our law and this place ⌊evil⌋. And besides, he has brought Greeks into ⌊the parts of⌋ the temple area ⌊where the law does not allow them to go⌋ and so defiled this holy place.

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