Acts 21:11

δήσας ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς πόδας καὶ τὰς χεῖρας with אBCDHLP. Vulg. ‘alligans sibi pedes et manus.’

11. καὶ ἐλθὼν … δήσας ἑαντοῦ τοὺς πόδας καὶ τὰς χεῖρας, and coming … he bound his own feet and hands. The adoption by Agabus of this figurative action makes it almost certain that the man was a Jew. Similar actions are common in the Old Testament prophets. Thus Isaiah (Acts 20:3) walks naked and barefoot. Jeremiah (Acts 13:5) hides his girdle by the river Euphrates, and (Acts 19:10-11) breaks the potter’s vessel in the Valley of Hinnom; Ezekiel (Acts 4:1-3) draws on a tile a picture of the siege of Jerusalem, and (Acts 5:1-4) cuts off his hair and burns and destroys it as God commanded. So too Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made horns of iron (1 Kings 22:11). With this act of Agabus may be compared our Lord’s words to St Peter (John 21:18).

The girdle was that band with which the loose Oriental robe was drawn together at the waist. It was of considerable size, and served the purposes of a pocket, the money being carried in it. To judge from the verb (ἄρας) employed in describing the prophet’s action, it seems that St Paul had laid aside his girdle and that it was taken up by Agabus from the place where it lay.

τάδε λέγει τὸ πν. τ. ἅ., thus saith the Holy Ghost. That we may the better note the Apostle’s zeal for carrying out the Lord’s will, we are once more told how the Holy Ghost made known to him through others that he was about to be made a prisoner. Still we see him go forward unmoved, because though others might know that he was to suffer, and might in their affection strive to hold him back, he was convinced that such suffering was the Lord’s way for him. Therefore he went on.