The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.
Parallel translations
- WEB the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging, that he might know for what crime they shouted against him like that.
- BSB the commander ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. He directed that Paul be flogged and interrogated to determine the reason for this outcry against him.
- NKJV the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him.
- NASB the commander ordered that he be brought into the barracks, saying that he was to be interrogated by flogging so that he would find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.
- NLT The commander brought Paul inside and ordered him lashed with whips to make him confess his crime. He wanted to find out why the crowd had become so furious.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The commander orders Paul taken inside and examined by scourging to find out why the crowd is so enraged. Roman procedure resorts to torture to extract the truth.
Overview
Scourging was a brutal interrogation method that could maim or kill. Lysias, baffled by the uproar, wrongly assumes Paul must have committed some crime. The episode shows the injustice the innocent often face, even as God is preparing to deliver Paul through his Roman citizenship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- John 19:1Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
- Acts 23:10And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle.
- Acts 21:34And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle.
- Acts 21:31–32And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
- Acts 16:37But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
- Acts 23:27This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.
- Heb 11:35Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
- Acts 22:25–29And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?
- Acts 16:22–23And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
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Original language
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