Acts 21:10

And as we tarried there some days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet named Agabus. 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 and Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.

Agabus ... The prophecy here delivered by this man is exceedingly important as showing "how" the Holy Spirit testified to Paul in every city that bonds and imprisonment awaited him. It was not by premonitions and subjective thoughts, but through plain words spoken by the Holy Spirit through a prophet, that Paul received such information. For more on this, see under Acts 20:23.

Bound his own feet and hands ... The Old Testament prophets often acted out their prophecies, as for example, in Ezekiel's portrayal of the siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:1-6); and a similar thing was done by Agabus here.

Implicit in Agabus' prophecy that the binding of Paul would occur in Jerusalem is the fact that the Holy Spirit expected him to go to Jerusalem. The prophecy was not that "If you go you will be bound," but that "you will be bound." Agabus is the same prophet mentioned in Acts 11:28 who foretold the famine in the reign of Claudius.

Luke himself appears to have been one of the disciples who interpreted the prophetic warnings to Paul as an indication that he should not proceed to Jerusalem at all. Note the "we" in Acts 21:12. There remains, in the light of what occurred there, a lingering wonderment if Luke might have been correct. After all, he was also inspired, as well as Paul.