Acts 23:1–15

¹Now Paul, looking intently at ^athe Sanhedrin, said, “^bBrothers, ^cI have ¹lived my life in all good conscience before God up to this day.”

²And the high priest ^aAnanias commanded those standing beside him ^bto strike him on the mouth.

³Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, ^ayou whitewashed wall! Do you ^bsit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?”

⁴But those standing nearby said, “Do you revile the high priest of God?”

⁵And Paul said, “I was not aware, brothers, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘^aYou shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶But knowing that one group were ^aSadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in ^bthe Sanhedrin, “^cBrothers, ^dI am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for ^ethe hope and resurrection of the dead!”

⁷As he said this, there was dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

⁸For ^athe Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

⁹And there occurred a great outcry; and some of ^athe scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “^bWe find nothing wrong with this man. ^cSuppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

¹⁰And as a great dissension was developing, because the ¹commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them, he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into ^athe barracks.

¹¹But on ^athat very night, the Lord stood at his side and said, “^bTake courage; for ^cas you have ^dsolemnly borne witness to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness at Rome also.”

A Plot to Kill Paul

¹²Now when it was day, ^athe Jews formed a ¹conspiracy and ^bbound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³And there were more than forty who formed this scheme.

¹⁴They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have ^abound ourselves under a curse to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.

¹⁵“So now you, along with ^athe Sanhedrin, notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more carefully; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near.”