Now when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him.
Parallel translations
- WEB When we entered into Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him.
- KJV And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.
- BSB When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him.
- NASB When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.
- NLT When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier.
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
In Rome Paul is granted the lenient custody of house arrest with a single guard. Even his confinement serves the spread of the gospel.
Overview
Rather than prison, Paul is permitted to live by himself, chained to a soldier who guards him. This relative freedom allows the open ministry described in the chapter's close. God's providence arranges even Paul's imprisonment so that, as he writes elsewhere, his chains advance the gospel (Phil. 1:12-13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Acts 27:3The next day, we touched at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him permission to go to his friends and refresh himself.
- Acts 24:23He ordered the centurion that Paul should be kept in custody, and should have some privileges, and not to forbid any of his friends to serve him or to visit him.
- Acts 28:30–31Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who were coming to him,
- Rom 1:7–15to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Rev 17:9Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.
- Acts 27:31Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these stay in the ship, you can’t be saved.”
- Acts 18:2He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,
- Acts 2:10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
- Gen 39:21–23But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
- Acts 19:21Now after these things had ended, Paul determined in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
- Rom 15:22–29Therefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you,
- Acts 23:11The following night, the Lord stood by him, and said, “Cheer up, Paul, for as you have testified about me at Jerusalem, so you must testify also at Rome.”
- Gen 37:36The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard.
- Acts 27:43But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, stopped them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should throw themselves overboard first to go toward the land;
- Jer 40:2The captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him, “Yahweh your God pronounced this evil on this place;
- 2 Kgs 25:8Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
- Rev 17:18The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
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Christ at the center
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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