Acts 25:1–26:32

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.

11 “If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I aappeal to Caesar.”

12 Then when Festus had conferred with 1his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”

13 Now when several days had elapsed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at aCaesarea 1and paid their respects to Festus.

14 While they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man who was aleft as a prisoner by Felix;

15 and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews abrought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.

16 “I aanswered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before bthe accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges.

17 “So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on athe tribunal and ordered the man to be brought before me.

18 “When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting,

19 but they simply had some apoints of disagreement with him about their own 1breligion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive.

20 “aBeing at a loss how to investigate 1such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these matters.

21 “But when Paul aappealed to be held in custody for 1the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.”

22 Then aAgrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he * said, “you shall hear him.”

Paul before Agrippa

23 So, on the next day when aAgrippa came 1together with aBernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium 2accompanied by the 3commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.

24 Festus * said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom aall the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that bhe ought not to live any longer.

25 “But I found that he had committed anothing worthy of death; and since he himself bappealed to 1the Emperor, I decided to send him.

26 “1Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write.

27 “For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.”

Chapter 26

Paul’s Defense before Agrippa

1 aAgrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

2 “In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today;

3 1especially because you are an expert in all acustoms and 2questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

4 “So then, all Jews know amy manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem;

5 since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a aPharisee baccording to the strictest csect of our religion.

6 “And now I am 1standing trial afor the hope of bthe promise made by God to our fathers;

7 the promise ato which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this bhope, O King, I am being caccused by Jews.

8 “Why is it considered incredible among you people aif God does raise the dead?

9 “So then, aI thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to bthe name of Jesus of Nazareth.

10 “And this is 1just what I adid in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the 2saints in prisons, having breceived authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I ccast my vote against them.

11 “And aas I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being bfuriously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them ceven to 1foreign cities.

12 “1While so engaged aas I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,

13 at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, 1brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.

14 “And when we had aall fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the 1bHebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? 2It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

15 “And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

16 ‘But get up and astand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to bappoint you a cminister and da witness not only to the things which you have 1seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you;

17 arescuing you bfrom the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,

18 to aopen their eyes so that they may turn from bdarkness to light and from the dominion of cSatan to God, that they may receive dforgiveness of sins and an einheritance among those who have been sanctified by ffaith in Me.’

19 “So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,

20 but kept declaring both ato those of Damascus first, and also bat Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even cto the Gentiles, that they should drepent and turn to God, performing deeds eappropriate to repentance.

21 “For this reason some Jews aseized me in the temple and tried bto put me to death.

22 “So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day atestifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what bthe Prophets and Moses said was going to take place;

23 1athat 2the Christ was 3to suffer, and 1that bby reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim clight both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

24 While Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus * said in a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind! 1Your great alearning is 2driving you mad.”

25 But Paul * said, “I am not out of my mind, amost excellent Festus, but I utter words 1of sober truth.

26 “For the king 1aknows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a 2corner.

27 “King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you 1do.”

28 Agrippa replied to Paul, “1In a short time you 2will persuade me to 3become a aChristian.”

29 And Paul said, “1I would wish to God, that whether 2in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these achains.”

30 aThe king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them,

31 and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying, “aThis man is not doing anything worthy of death or 1imprisonment.”

32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been aset free if he had not bappealed to Caesar.”