Acts 25:1–12

Paul Appeals to the Emperor

²⁵Three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, ²where the chief priests and the leaders of the Jews gave him a report against Paul. They appealed to him^{* 3}and requested, as a favor to them against Paul,^p to have him transferred to Jerusalem. They were, in fact, planning an ambush to kill him along the way.^{* 4}Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly.^{* 5}“So,” he said, “let those of you who have the authority come down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them accuse him.”

⁶After he had stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea; the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷When he arrived, the Jews who had gone down from Jerusalem surrounded him, bringing many serious charges against him, which they could not prove.^{* 8}Paul said in his defense, “I have in no way committed an offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against the emperor.”^{* 9}But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and be tried there before me on these charges?”^{* 10}Paul said, “I am standing before the emperor’s tribunal; this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you very well know. ¹¹Now if I am in the wrong and have committed something for which I deserve to die, I am not trying to escape death, but if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can turn me over to them. I appeal to the emperor.”^{* 12}Then Festus, after he had conferred with his council, replied, “You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go.”