Acts 23:16–35

¹⁶So when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.” ¹⁸So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you.”

¹⁹Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside, and asked privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”

²⁰And he said, ^r“The Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more fully about him. ²¹But do not yield to them, for more than forty of them lie in wait for him, men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him; and now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you.”

²²So the commander let the young man depart, and commanded him, “Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me.”

Sent to Felix

²³And he called for two centurions, saying, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to ^sCaesarea at the third hour of the night; ²⁴and provide mounts to set Paul on, and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” ²⁵He wrote a letter in the following manner:

²⁶Claudius Lysias,

To the most excellent governor Felix:

Greetings.

^27tThis man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. Coming with the troops I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. ^28uAnd when I wanted to know the reason they accused him, I brought him before their council. ²⁹I found out that he was accused ^vconcerning questions of their law, ^wbut had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains. ³⁰And ^xwhen it was told me that ⁴the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him immediately to you, and ^yalso commanded his accusers to state before you the charges against him.

Farewell.

³¹Then the soldiers, as they were commanded, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. ³²The next day they left the horsemen to go on with him, and returned to the barracks. ³³When they came to ^zCaesarea and had delivered the ^aletter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. ³⁴And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from ^bCilicia, ³⁵he said, ^c“I will hear you when your accusers also have come.” And he commanded him to be kept in ^dHerod’s ⁵Praetorium.