Chapter 25

Paul before Festus

1 Festus then, having arrived in athe province, three days later went up to Jerusalem from bCaesarea.

2 And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews abrought charges against Paul, and they were urging him,

3 requesting a 1concession against 2Paul, that he might 3have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, asetting an ambush to kill him on the way).

4 Festus then aanswered that Paul bwas being kept in custody at cCaesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly.

5 “Therefore,” he * said, “let the influential men among you 1go there with me, and if there is anything wrong 2about the man, let them 3prosecute him.”

6 After he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to aCaesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on bthe tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought.

7 After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing amany and serious charges against him bwhich they could not prove,

8 while Paul said in his own defense, “aI have committed no offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”

9 But Festus, awishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “bAre you willing to go up to Jerusalem and 1stand trial before me on these charges?”

10 But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s atribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know.

11 “If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I aappeal to Caesar.”

12 Then when Festus had conferred with 1his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”

13 Now when several days had elapsed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at aCaesarea 1and paid their respects to Festus.

14 While they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man who was aleft as a prisoner by Felix;

15 and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews abrought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.

16 “I aanswered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before bthe accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges.

17 “So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on athe tribunal and ordered the man to be brought before me.

18 “When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting,

19 but they simply had some apoints of disagreement with him about their own 1breligion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive.

20 “aBeing at a loss how to investigate 1such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these matters.

21 “But when Paul aappealed to be held in custody for 1the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.”

22 Then aAgrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he * said, “you shall hear him.”

Paul before Agrippa

23 So, on the next day when aAgrippa came 1together with aBernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium 2accompanied by the 3commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.

24 Festus * said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom aall the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that bhe ought not to live any longer.

25 “But I found that he had committed anothing worthy of death; and since he himself bappealed to 1the Emperor, I decided to send him.

26 “1Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write.

27 “For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.”