So for this reason I have called to see you and speak with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.”
Parallel translations
- WEB For this cause therefore I asked to see you and to speak with you. For because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”
- KJV For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.
- NKJV For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”
- NASB For this reason, therefore, I requested to see you and to speak with you, since I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel.”
- NLT I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of Israel—the Messiah—has already come.”
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
Paul says he is chained for 'the hope of Israel.' His imprisonment is bound up with the message of the resurrection in Christ.
Overview
Paul reveals the true reason for his summons and his chains: the hope of Israel, the promised Messiah and the resurrection of the dead now fulfilled in Jesus. He frames his gospel not as a departure from Israel's faith but as its very fulfillment. The 'hope of Israel' is Christ, in whom all the promises find their yes (2 Cor. 1:20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Acts 26:6–7And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise that God made to our fathers,
- 2 Tim 2:9for which I suffer to the extent of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained!
- Eph 6:20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly, as I should.
- Phil 1:13As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.
- Acts 26:29“Short time or long,” Paul replied, “I wish to God that not only you but all who hear me this day may become what I am, except for these chains.”
- Acts 23:6Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. It is because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”
- Acts 24:15and I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
- Eph 4:1As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received:
- Acts 21:33The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.
- Eph 3:1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles...
- Phlm 1:10I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became while I was in chains.
- Acts 10:33So I sent for you immediately, and you were kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has instructed you to tell us.”
- Col 4:18This greeting is in my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
- 2 Tim 1:10And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,
- Phlm 1:13I would have liked to keep him with me, so that on your behalf he could minister to me in my chains for the gospel.
- Acts 28:17After three days, he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was taken prisoner in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.
- Acts 10:29So when I was invited, I came without objection. I ask, then, why have you sent for me?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.
How Acts 28:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.