Acts 24–26

CHAPTER 24

Paul’s Trial Before Felix the Governor

¹Now after ^afive days the high priest ^bAnanias came down with some elders, ¹with an ²attorney named Tertullus, and they ³brought charges to ^cthe governor against Paul.

²And after Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying,

“As we have attained much peace through you—and because by your provision reforms are being carried out for this nation—

³we welcome this in every way and everywhere, ^amost excellent Felix, with all thankfulness.

⁴“But, that I may not weary you any further, I plead with you by your forbearance to hear us briefly.

⁵“For we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout ¹the world, and a ringleader of the ^asect of the Nazarenes.

⁶“And he even tried to ^adesecrate the temple; and ¹then we arrested him. ²We wanted to judge him according to our own Law.

⁷“But Lysias the commander came along, and with much violence took him out of our hands,

⁸ordering his accusers to come before you.] By examining him yourself concerning all these matters you will be able to ascertain the things of which we accuse him.”

^9aAnd the Jews also joined in the attack, asserting that these things were so.

¹⁰And when ^athe governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul answered:

“Knowing that for many years you have been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense,

¹¹since you are able to ascertain the fact that no more than ^atwelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

¹²“^aAnd neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor across the city did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or ^bcausing ¹a riot.

¹³“^aNor are they able to prove to you of what they are now accusing me.

¹⁴“But this I confess to you, that according to ^athe Way, which they call a ^bsect, I do serve ^1cthe God of our fathers, ^dbelieving everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets;

¹⁵having a hope in God, for which ^athese men are waiting, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

¹⁶“In view of this, ^aI also ¹do my best to maintain always a conscience without fault both before God and before men.

¹⁷“Now ^aafter several years I ^bcame to bring ¹alms to my nation and offerings;

¹⁸in which they found me, having been ^apurified in the temple, without any ^bcrowd or uproar. But there were some ^cJews from ¹Asia—

¹⁹who ought to have been present before you and to ^amake accusation, if they should have anything against me.

²⁰“Or else let these men themselves tell what wrongdoing they found when I stood before ^athe Sanhedrin,

²¹other than for this one statement which ^aI shouted out while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.’”

²²But Felix, having a more accurate knowledge about ^athe Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the ¹commander comes down, I will decide your case.”

²³Then he gave orders to the centurion for him to be ^akept in custody and yet ^bhave some rest, and not to prevent any of ^chis friends from ministering to him.

²⁴But some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his ¹wife who was a Jewess, and summoned Paul and heard him speak about ^afaith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵But as he was discussing ^arighteousness, ^bself-control, and ^cthe judgment to come, Felix became frightened and answered, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will call for you.”

²⁶At the same time, he was also hoping that ^amoney would be given him by Paul; therefore he also used to summon for him quite often and converse with him.

²⁷But after two years had passed, Felix ¹was succeeded by Porcius ^aFestus, and ^bwishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul ^cimprisoned.

CHAPTER 25

Paul Before Festus

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

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

³requesting a favor against ¹Paul, that he might ²have him brought to Jerusalem (while they ^aset an ambush to kill him on the way).

⁴Festus 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 go down there with me, and if there is anything wrong ¹about the man, let them accuse him.”

⁶And 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 judgment seat and ordered Paul to be brought.

⁷And 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,

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

⁹But Festus, ^awishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “^bAre you willing to go up to Jerusalem and to be tried before me on these matters?”

¹⁰But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s ^ajudgment seat, 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.”

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

Festus and Agrippa Discuss Paul’s Trial

¹³Now when several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at ^aCaesarea ¹and greeted Festus.

¹⁴And 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;

¹⁵and 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 judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought before me.

¹⁸“When the accusers stood up, they were not bringing any charges against him for the evil deeds I was expecting,

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

²⁰“^aAnd being perplexed about how to investigate ¹such matters, I was asking whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there to be tried 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.”

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

Paul Before Agrippa and Bernice

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

²⁴And 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

^1aNow Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul, stretching out his hand, began to make his defense:

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

³¹especially 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, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem;

⁵since 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 standing here being tried ^afor the hope of ^bthe promise made by God to our fathers;

⁷the 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 unbelievable among all of you ^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 the Nazarene.

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.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

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

¹³at 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 language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? ²It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“And I said,…