Acts 23

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.