Acts 23:1–15

¹And Paul having earnestly beheld the sanhedrim, said, ‘Men, brethren, I in all good conscience have lived to God unto this day;’ ²and the chief priest Ananias commanded those standing by him to smite him on the mouth, ³then Paul said unto him, ‘God is about to smite thee, thou whitewashed wall, and thou—thou dost sit judging me according to the law, and, violating law, dost order me to be smitten!’ ⁴And those who stood by said, ‘The chief priest of God dost thou revile?’ ⁵and Paul said, ‘I did not know, brethren, that he is chief priest: for it hath been written, Of the ruler of thy people thou shalt not speak evil;’

⁶And Paul having known that the one part are Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, cried out in the sanhedrim, ‘Men, brethren, I am a Pharisee—son of a Pharisee—concerning hope and rising again of dead men I am judged.’ ⁷And he having spoken this, there came a dissension of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and the crowd was divided, ⁸for Sadducees, indeed, say there is no rising again, nor messenger, nor spirit, but Pharisees confess both. ⁹And there came a great cry, and the scribes of the Pharisees’ part having arisen, were striving, saying, ‘No evil do we find in this man; and if a spirit spake to him, or a messenger, we may not fight against God;’ ¹⁰and a great dissension having come, the chief captain having been afraid lest Paul may be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiery, having gone down, to take him by force out of the midst of them, and to bring him to the castle. ¹¹And on the following night, the Lord having stood by him, said, ‘Take courage, Paul, for as thou didst fully testify the things concerning me at Jerusalem, so it behoveth thee also at Rome to testify.’

¹²And day having come, certain of the Jews having made a concourse, did anathematize themselves, saying neither to eat nor to drink till they may kill Paul; ¹³and they were more than forty who made this conspiracy by oath, ¹⁴who having come near to the chief priests and to the elders said, ‘With an anathema we did anathematize ourselves—to taste nothing till we have killed Paul; ¹⁵now, therefore, ye, signify ye to the chief captain, with the sanhedrim, that to-morrow he may bring him down unto you, as being about to know more exactly the things concerning him; and we, before his coming nigh, are ready to put him to death.’