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.
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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
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 19:1So Pilate then took Jesus, and flogged him.
- Acts 23:10When a great argument arose, the commanding officer, fearing that Paul would be torn in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.
- Acts 21:34Some 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.
- Acts 21:31–32As they were trying to kill him, news came up to the commanding officer of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
- Acts 16:37But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!”
- Acts 23:27“This man was seized by the Jews, and was about to be killed by them, when I came with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman.
- Heb 11:35Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
- Acts 22:25–29When they had tied him up with thongs, Paul asked the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and not found guilty?”
- Acts 16:22–23The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods.
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Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
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Original language
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