Acts 25
25
Paul’s Trial in Front of Festus
1Three days after Festus arrived, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. 2There the chief priests and the Jewish leaders came to Festus. They brought their charges against Paul. 3They tried very hard 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 that these charges were true.
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!”
Festus Talks With King Agrippa
13A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea. They came to pay a visit to Festus. 14They were spending many days there. So Festus talked with the king about Paul’s case. He said, “There’s a man here that Felix left as a prisoner. 15When I went to Jerusalem, the Jewish chief priests and the elders brought charges against the man. They wanted him to be found guilty.
16“I told them that this is not the way Romans do things. We don’t judge people before they have faced those bringing charges against them. They must have a chance to argue against the charges for themselves. 17When the Jewish leaders came back with me, I didn’t waste any time. I called the court together the next day. I ordered the man to be brought in. 18Those bringing charges against him got up to speak. But they didn’t charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. 19Instead, they argued with him about their own beliefs. They didn’t agree about a man named Jesus. They said Jesus was dead, but Paul claimed Jesus was alive. 20I had no idea how to look into such matters. So I asked Paul if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem. There he could be tried on these charges. 21But Paul made an appeal to have the Emperor decide his case. So I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.”
22Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man myself.”
Festus replied, “Tomorrow you will hear him.”
Paul in Front of Agrippa
23The next day Agrippa and Bernice arrived. They were treated like very important people. They entered the courtroom. The most important military officers and the leading men of the city came with them. When Festus gave the command, Paul was brought in. 24Festus said, “King Agrippa, and everyone else here, take a good look at this man! A large number of Jews have come to me about him. They came to me in Jerusalem and also here in Caesarea. They keep shouting that he shouldn’t live any longer. 25I have found that he hasn’t done anything worthy of death. But he made his appeal to the Emperor. So I decided to send him to Rome. 26I don’t have anything certain to write about him to His Majesty. So I have brought him here today. Now all of you will be able to hear him. King Agrippa, it will also be very good for you to hear him. As a result of this hearing, I will have something to write. 27It doesn’t make sense to send a prisoner on to Rome without listing the charges against him.”
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Ma`asei (Acts) 25
25
1Festus therefore, having come to the province, three days later went up from Caesarea to Yerushalayim.
2And the high priest and the chief men of the Yehuḏim informed him against Sha’ul, and they begged him,
3asking a favour against him, that he would send him to Yerushalayim – making a plot along the way to kill him.
4Then, indeed, Festus answered that Sha’ul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to set out shortly.
5Therefore, he said, “let those who have authority among you go down with me and accuse this man, to see if there is any fault in him.”
6And having spent more than ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea. And on the next day, sitting on the judgment seat, he commanded Sha’ul to be brought.
7And when he had come, the Yehuḏim who had come down from Yerushalayim stood about, bringing many and heavy charges against Sha’ul, which they were unable to prove,
8while Sha’ul said in his own defence, “Neither against the Torah of the Yehuḏim, nor against the Set-apart Place, nor against Caesar did I commit any sin.”
9But Festus, wishing to do the Yehuḏim a favour, answering Sha’ul, said, “Do you wish to go up to Yerushalayim and be judged before me there concerning these matters?”
10And Sha’ul said, “I am standing at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I should be judged. To the Yehuḏim I have done no wrong, as you know well enough.
11For if indeed I do wrong, or have committed whatever deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is none at all in these matters of which these men accuse me, no one is able to give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.”
12Then Festus, having talked with the council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go!”
13And certain days having passed, Sovereign Agrippa and Bernike came to Caesarea to greet Festus.
14And when they had spent many days there, Festus laid Sha’ul’s case before the sovereign, saying, “There is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner,
15about whom the chief priests and the elders of the Yehuḏim informed me, when I was in Yerushalayim, asking for a judgment against him.
16“To them I answered, ‘It is not the Roman practice to give up any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has a chance to answer for himself concerning the charge against him.’
17“They, therefore, having come together, without any delay, I sat on the judgment seat the next day and commanded the man to be brought in.
18“When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge against him such as I expected,
19but had some questions against him about their own worship and about a certain יהושע, who had died, whom Sha’ul was claiming to be alive.
20“And being uncertain how to investigate these matters, I asked whether he wished to go to Yerushalayim and there be judged concerning these matters.
21But when Sha’ul appealed to be kept for the decision of Augustus, I ordered him to be kept until I send him to Caesar.
22And Agrippa said to Festus, “I was wishing also to hear the man myself.” And he said, “Tomorrow, you shall hear him.”
23Therefore, on the next day, Agrippa and Bernike having come with great show, and having entered the place of hearing with the commanders and the eminent men of the city, Sha’ul was brought in at the order of Festus.
24And Festus said, “Sovereign Agrippa and all the men present here with us, you see this one about whom all the community of the Yehuḏim pleaded with me, both at Yerushalayim and here, shouting that he ought not to be living any longer.
25“But I, having found that he had committed none at all deserving death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him.
26“I have no definite matter to write to my master concerning him. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and most of all before you, Sovereign Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I might have somewhat to write.
27For it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to signify the charges against him.
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