Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 21:11

"And coming to us, and taking Paul`s girdle, he bound his own feet and hands, and said, Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." — Acts 21:11 (ASV)

He took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet.—The manuscripts vary between "his hands" (St. Paul's) and "his own;" but the latter is by far the best-supported reading.

It is interesting to note the revival of the old prophetic manner of predicting by symbolic acts. So Isaiah had walked "naked and barefoot" (Isaiah 20:3–4); Jeremiah had gone and left his girdle in a cave on the banks of the Euphrates, and had made bonds and yokes, and put them on his neck (Jeremiah 13:1–11; Jeremiah 27:2); and Ezekiel had portrayed the siege of Jerusalem on a tile, and had cut the hair from his head and beard (Ezekiel 4:1–3; Ezekiel 5:1–4).

Looking to the previous relations between St. Paul and Agabus at Antioch (Acts 11:27), we may well believe that the latter, foreseeing the danger to which the Apostle would be exposed, came down to Caesarea, in a spirit of friendly anxiety, to warn him not to come. The feeling which led to the murderous plot of Acts 23:12 could be no secret to a prophet living at Jerusalem.