Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 21:36

"for the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, Away with him." — Acts 21:36 (ASV)

The commander formally arrested Paul and ordered him bound with two chains. Undoubtedly he considered him a criminal and was prepared to treat him as one. But when he asked the mob about his crime, he got no clear answer. Therefore he ordered him to be taken into the fortress where he could be questioned directly and where a confession could be extracted from him. But the mob still pressed hard after their quarry, so hard that the soldiers had to drag Paul up the steps to the fortress. All the while the mob was crying out, “Away with him!” (i.e., “Kill him!” cf. Lk 23:18; Acts 22:22).