And when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spoke unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,
Read Chapter 21
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
He spoke in the dialect of the country, which was partly Hebrew and partly Syriac, but the Syriac greatly prevailed; and from the steps, epi tous anastathmous, which led to the fortress of Antonia. Here a Roman cohort was lodged; it was situated to the north-west, and joined the temple. The flight of steps was occupied by the lowest orders of the people. Thus Cicero ad Atticum: Gradus templorum ab infimâ plebe completi erant; and again, pro Cluentio: gradus concitatis ho minibus narrat.
But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and I beseech you, suffer me to speak unto the people. And when he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spoke unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying.
Observe how, when he discourses to those that are without, he does not decline availing himself of the aids afforded by the laws. Here he awes the tribune by the name of his city. And again, elsewhere he said, Openly, uncondemned, Romans as we are, they have cast us into prison. Acts 19:37 For since the tribune said, Are you that Egyptian? he immediately drew him off from that surmise: then, that he may not be thought to deny his nation, he says at once, I am a Jew: he means his religion. (b) What then? He did not deny (that he was a Christian): God forbid: for he was both a Jew and a Christian, observing what things he ought: since indeed h...
