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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.”
Acts 28:20 · New American Standard Bible
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.
  • BSB 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.”
  • 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.”
  • 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 26:6–7Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,
  • 2 Tim 2:9in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained.
  • Eph 6:20for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
  • Phil 1:13so that it became evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my bonds are in Christ;
  • Acts 26:29Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.”
  • Acts 23:6But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”
  • Acts 24:15having hope toward God, which these also themselves look for, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
  • Eph 4:1I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
  • Acts 21:33Then the commanding officer came near, arrested him, commanded him to be bound with two chains, and inquired who he was and what he had done.
  • Eph 3:1For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,
  • Phlm 1:10I beg you for my child, whom I have become the father of in my chains, Onesimus,
  • Acts 10:33Therefore I sent to you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God to hear all things that have been commanded you by God.”
  • Col 4:18The salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand: remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.
  • 2 Tim 1:10but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News.
  • Phlm 1:13whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News.
  • Acts 28:17After three days Paul called together those who were the leaders of the Jews. When they had come together, he said to them, “I, brothers, though I had done nothing against the people, or the customs of our fathers, still was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans,
  • Acts 10:29Therefore also I came without complaint when I was sent for. I ask therefore, why did you send for me?”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Acts videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Acts 28:20YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ActsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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.