Acts 21:37
And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek?
The moment comes as Paul is being taken into the castle in the midst of the crowd's violence, when he calmly asks the Roman chief captain for permission to speak. In the tumult he remains calm and self-possessed because his mind is stayed upon God and angels of heaven are about him. Unwilling to leave the temple without an effort to set the truth before his countrymen, he turns to the commanding officer and in a deferential manner makes his request in Greek.
The commander's astonished question about whether he can speak Greek comes because he has supposed the prisoner to be the Egyptian ringleader of a band of robbers and murderers in the recent rebellion. Paul answers by identifying himself as a Jew from Tarsus, and that identification leads to his request to address the people. The permission is granted, and he at once uses it from the stairs into the castle, where he stands and beckons with his hand to the people. His gesture attracts their attention while his bearing commands respect, and when great silence falls he speaks to them in the Hebrew tongue to make his defense, at whose familiar sound they keep the more silence in universal hush as he continues.