Paul before Festus

1 Festus then, having arrived in athe province, three days later went up to Jerusalem from bCaesarea.

2 And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews abrought charges against Paul, and they were urging him,

3 requesting a 1concession against 2Paul, that he might 3have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, asetting an ambush to kill him on the way).

4 Festus then aanswered that Paul bwas being kept in custody at cCaesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly.

5 “Therefore,” he * said, “let the influential men among you 1go there with me, and if there is anything wrong 2about the man, let them 3prosecute him.”

6 After he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to aCaesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on bthe tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought.

7 After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing amany and serious charges against him bwhich they could not prove,

8 while Paul said in his own defense, “aI have committed no offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”

9 But Festus, awishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “bAre you willing to go up to Jerusalem and 1stand trial before me on these charges?”

10 But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s atribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know.