¹⁶But Paul’s nephew heard about the ambush. He entered the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷Then Paul called one of the sergeants and told him, “Take this young man to the officer. He has something to tell him.”

¹⁸The sergeant took the young man to the officer and said, “The prisoner Paul called me. He asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The officer took the young man by the arm, went where they could be alone, and asked him, “What do you have to tell me?”

²⁰The young man answered, “The Jews have planned to ask you to bring Paul to the Jewish council tomorrow. They’re going to make it look as though they want more accurate information about him. ²¹Don’t let them persuade you to do this. More than forty of them are planning to ambush him. They have asked God to curse them if they eat or drink anything before they have murdered him. They are ready now and are expecting you to promise ⸤that you will bring Paul⸥.”

²²The officer dismissed the young man and ordered him not to tell this information to anyone else.

²³Then the officer summoned two of his sergeants and told them, “I want 200 infantrymen, 70 soldiers on horseback, and 200 soldiers with spears. Have them ready to go to Caesarea at nine o’clock tonight. ²⁴Provide an animal for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Governor Felix.” ²⁵The officer wrote a letter to the governor with the following message:

²⁶Claudius Lysias sends greetings to Your Excellency, Governor Felix:

²⁷The Jews had seized this man and were going to murder him. When I found out that he was a Roman citizen, I went with my soldiers to rescue him. ²⁸I wanted to know what they had against him. So I took him to their Jewish council ²⁹and found their accusations had to do with disputes about their own laws. He wasn’t accused of anything for which he deserved to die or to be put into prison. ³⁰Since I was informed that there was a plot against this man, I immediately sent him to you. I have also ordered his accusers to state their case against him in front of you.

³¹So the infantrymen did as they had been ordered. They took Paul to the city of Antipatris during the night. ³²They returned to their barracks the next day and let the soldiers on horseback travel with Paul. ³³When the soldiers arrived in the city of Caesarea with Paul, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him.

³⁴After the governor had read the letter, he asked Paul which province he was from. When he found out that Paul was from the province of Cilicia, ³⁵he said, “I’ll hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then the governor gave orders to keep Paul under guard in Herod’s palace.

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