Acts 24–26

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 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.”

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

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

¹⁴While 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 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,

¹⁹but 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.”

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

Paul before Agrippa

²³So, on the next day when ^aAgrippa came ¹together with Bernice 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.

²⁴Festus 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

^1aAgrippa 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;

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 up, 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 ¹standing trial ^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 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,

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 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…