25Three days after Festus arrived, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. ²There the chief priests and Jewish leaders came to him and brought their charges against Paul. ³They tried to get Festus to have Paul taken to Jerusalem. They asked for this as a favor. They were planning to hide and attack Paul along the way. They wanted to kill him. ⁴Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea. Soon I’ll be going there myself. ⁵Let some of your leaders come with me. If the man has done anything wrong, they can bring charges against him there.”

⁶Festus spent eight or ten days in Jerusalem with them. Then he went down to Caesarea. The next day he called the court together. He ordered Paul to be brought to him. ⁷When Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many strong charges against him. But they couldn’t prove them.

⁸Then Paul spoke up for himself. He said, “I’ve done nothing wrong against the law of the Jews or against the temple. I’ve done nothing wrong against Caesar.”

⁹But Festus wanted to do the Jews a favor. So he said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem? Are you willing to go on trial there? Are you willing to face these charges in my court?”

¹⁰Paul answered, “I’m already standing in Caesar’s court. This is where I should go on trial. I haven’t done anything wrong to the Jews. You yourself know that very well. ¹¹If I am guilty of anything worthy of death, I’m willing to die. But the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true. No one has the right to hand me over to them. I make my appeal to Caesar!”

¹²Festus talked it over with the members of his court. Then he said, “You have made an appeal to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!”

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