ἐπελάβετο αὐτοῦ, laid hold on him. The verb implies a formal arrest. The chief captain did not come with a view to relieve St Paul, but to find out what was the matter, and seeing the Apostle in the hands of the mob, himself arrested him, that he might not be killed without a hearing.

ἁλύσεσι δυσί, with two chains, cf. Acts 12:6. Evidently, as appears from his language afterwards (Acts 21:38), the χιλίαρχος regarded St Paul as some desperate criminal. He would have thought little of the matter, had it seemed merely a question about Jewish law (see Acts 23:29).

καὶ ἐπυνθάνετο, and inquired. From those who appeared most prominent in the crowd.

τίς εἴη καὶ τί ἐστι πεποιηκώς, who he was, and what he had done. The optative mood in the first half of the question shews that this was a question about the answer to which there might be uncertainty. The indicative in the latter half proclaims the conviction of the χιλίαρχος. He was quite sure some wrong had been done.

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Old Testament