Acts 23–25

Chapter 23

Paul before the Council

¹Paul, looking intently at ^athe ¹Council, said, “^bBrethren, ^cI have ²lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”

²The 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 the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”

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

⁶But perceiving that one group were ^aSadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in ^bthe ¹Council, “^cBrethren, ^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 occurred a 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 uproar; 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, the ¹commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into ^athe barracks.

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

A Conspiracy to Kill Paul

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

¹³There were more than forty who formed this plot.

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

¹⁵“Now therefore, you ¹and ^athe ²Council notify the ³commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place.”

¹⁶But the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, ¹and he came and entered ^athe barracks and told Paul.

¹⁷Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Lead this young man to the ¹commander, for he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸So he took him and led him to the ¹commander and said, “Paul ^athe prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The ¹commander took him by the hand and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, “What is it that you have to report to me?”

²⁰And he said, “^aThe Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to ^bthe ¹Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him.

²¹“So do not ¹listen to them, for more than forty of them are ^alying in wait for him who have ^bbound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him; and now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you.”

²²So the ¹commander let the young man go, instructing him, “Tell no one that you have notified me of these things.”

Paul Moved to Caesarea

²³And he called to him two of the centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready by ¹the third hour of the night to proceed to ^aCaesarea, ²with seventy horsemen and two hundred ³spearmen.”

²⁴They were also to provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to ^aFelix the governor.

²⁵And he wrote a letter having this form:

²⁶“Claudius Lysias, to the ^amost excellent governor Felix, ^bgreetings.

²⁷“When this man was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them, ^aI came up to them with the troops and rescued him, ^bhaving learned that he was a Roman.

²⁸“And ^awanting to ascertain the charge for which they were accusing him, I ^bbrought him down to their ^1cCouncil;

²⁹and I found him to be accused over ^aquestions about their Law, but ¹under ^bno accusation deserving death or ²imprisonment.

³⁰“When I was ^ainformed that there would be ^ba plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing ^chis accusers to ¹bring charges against him before you.”

³¹So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

³²But the next day, leaving ^athe horsemen to go on with him, they returned to ^bthe barracks.

³³When these had come to ^aCaesarea and delivered the letter to ^bthe governor, they also presented Paul to him.

³⁴When he had read it, he asked from what ^aprovince he was, and when he learned that ^bhe was from Cilicia,

³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing after your ^aaccusers arrive also,” giving orders for him to be ^bkept in Herod’s ¹Praetorium.

Chapter 24

Paul before Felix

¹After ^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.

²After Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying to the governor,

“Since we have through you attained much peace, and since by your providence reforms are being carried out for this nation,

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

⁴“But, that I may not weary you any further, I beg you ¹to grant us, by your kindness, a brief hearing.

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.”

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

¹⁰When ^athe governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul responded:

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

¹¹since you can take note of the fact that no more than ^atwelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

¹²“^aNeither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor in the city itself did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or ^bcausing ¹a riot.

¹³“^aNor can they prove to you the charges of which they now accuse me.

¹⁴“But this I admit 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, which ^athese men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

¹⁶“In view of this, ^aI also ¹do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men.

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

¹⁸in which they found me occupied in the temple, having been ^apurified, 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 misdeed they found when I stood before ^athe ¹Council,

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, ¹having a more exact knowledge about ^athe Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the ²commander 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 freedom, 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 sent for 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 said, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you.”

²⁶At the same time too, he was hoping that ^amoney would be given him by Paul; therefore he also used to send 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, three days later went up to Jerusalem from ^bCaesarea.

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

³requesting 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).

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 ¹go there with me, and if there is anything wrong ²about the man, let them ³prosecute him.”

⁶After 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.

⁷After 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 offense 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 ¹stand trial before me on these charges?”

¹⁰But Paul said, “I am standing…