Acts 23:1–15

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.”