Acts 11:28

one of them named Agabus He is mentioned again Acts 21:10, where by a significant action, as well as by his words, he foretells the imprisonment of St Paul at Jerusalem.

and signified by the Spirit So too Acts 21:11, the words of Agabus are, "Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle."

great dearth This famine is mentioned by Josephus (Antiq. xx. 2. 5), who tells how Helena, queen of Adiabene, being at Jerusalem, succoured the people by procuring for them corn from Alexandria and a cargo of figs from Cyprus. The date of this severe famine was a.d. 45.

throughout all the world Though one region might be specially afflicted by the failure of its crops, all the rest of the Roman empire would be sure to suffer in some degree at the same time, and especially when famines were, as at this time, of frequent recurrence.

in the days of Claudius Cesar The oldest MSS. omit "Cæsar." The reign of Claudius (a.d. 41 54) was remarkable for the famines with which various parts of the empire were afflicted. The first, second, fourth, ninth and eleventh years of this Emperor's reign are recorded as years of famine in some district or other. See Suetonius, Claudius, 28; Tacitus, Ann. xii. 43; Josephus, Antiq. xx. 2. 5, Dio Cassius ix. p. 949, Euseb. H. E. ii. 8.