The Acts 23
23
1Paul looked at the Jewish council and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life in a good way before God up to this day.” 2Ananias,# This is not the same man named Ananias in Acts 22:12. the high priest, heard this and told the men who were standing near Paul to hit him on his mouth. 3Paul said to Ananias, “God will hit you too! You are like a wall that has been painted white! You sit there and judge me, using the law of Moses. But you are telling them to hit me, and that is against the law.”
4The men standing near Paul said to him, “You cannot talk like that to God’s high priest! You are insulting him!”
5Paul said, “Brothers, I did not know this man was the high priest. It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You must not curse a leader of your people.’”# Quotation from Exodus 22:28.
6Some of the men in the meeting were Sadducees, and others were Pharisees. So Paul shouted to them, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee and my father was a Pharisee! I am on trial here because I hope that people will rise from death!”
7When Paul said this, there was an argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The group was divided. 8(The Sadducees believe that after people die, they cannot live again. The Sadducees also teach that there are no angels or spirits. But the Pharisees believe in them all.) 9So there was a great uproar. Some of the teachers of the law, who were Pharisees, stood up and argued, “We find nothing wrong with this man! Maybe an angel or a spirit did speak to him.”
10The argument was beginning to turn into a fight. The commander was afraid that the Jews would tear Paul to pieces. So the commander told the soldiers to go down and take Paul away and put him in the army building.
11The next night the Lord came and stood by Paul. He said, “Be brave! You have told people in Jerusalem about me. You must do the same in Rome also.”
12In the morning some of the Jews made a plan to kill Paul. They made a promise that they would not eat or drink anything until they had killed him. 13There were more than 40 Jews who made this plan. 14They went and talked to the leading priests and the Jewish elders. They said, “We have made a promise to ourselves that we will not eat or drink until we have killed Paul! 15So this is what we want you to do: Send a message to the commander to bring Paul out to you. Tell him you want to ask Paul more questions. We will be waiting to kill him while he is on the way here.”
16But Paul’s nephew heard about this plan. He went to the army building and told Paul about it. 17Then Paul called one of the officers and said, “Take this young man to the commander. He has a message for him.”
18So the officer brought Paul’s nephew to the commander. The officer said, “The prisoner, Paul, asked me to bring this young man to you. He wants to tell you something.”
19The commander led the young man to a place where they could be alone. The commander asked, “What do you want to tell me?”
20The young man said, “The Jews have decided to ask you to bring Paul down to their council meeting tomorrow. They want you to think that they are going to ask him more questions. 21But don’t believe them! There are more than 40 men who are hiding and waiting to kill Paul. They have all made a promise not to eat or drink until they have killed him! Now they are waiting for you to agree.”
22The commander sent the young man away. He said to him, “Don’t tell anyone that you have told me about their plan.”
Paul Is Sent to Caesarea
23Then the commander called two officers. He said to them, “I need some men to go to Caesarea. Get 200 soldiers ready. Also, get 70 horsemen and 200 men with spears. Be ready to leave at nine o’clock tonight. 24Get some horses for Paul to ride. He must be taken to Governor Felix safely.” 25And he wrote a letter that said:
26From Claudius Lysias.
To the Most Excellent Governor Felix:
Greetings.
27The Jews had taken this man, and they planned to kill him. But I learned that he is a Roman citizen, so I went with my soldiers and saved him. 28I wanted to know why they were accusing him. So I brought him before their council meeting. 29I learned that the Jews said Paul did some things that were wrong. But these charges were about their own laws. And no charge was worthy of jail or death. 30I was told that some of the Jews were planning to kill Paul. So I sent him to you at once. I also told those Jews to tell you what they have against him.
31So the soldiers did what they were told. They took Paul and brought him to the city of Antipatris that night. 32The next day the horsemen went with Paul to Caesarea. But the other soldiers went back to the army building in Jerusalem. 33The horsemen came to Caesarea and gave the letter to the governor. Then they turned Paul over to him. 34The governor read the letter. Then he asked Paul, “What area are you from?” He learned that Paul was from Cilicia. 35He said, “I will hear your case when those who are against you come here too.” Then the governor gave orders for Paul to be kept under guard in the palace. (This building had been built by Herod.)
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Acts 23
23
Before the High Council
1-3Paul surveyed the members of the council with a steady gaze, and then said his piece: “Friends, I’ve lived with a clear conscience before God all my life, up to this very moment.” That set the Chief Priest Ananias off. He ordered his aides to slap Paul in the face. Paul shot back, “God will slap you down! What a fake you are! You sit there and judge me by the Law and then break the Law by ordering me slapped around!”
4The aides were scandalized: “How dare you talk to God’s Chief Priest like that!”
5Paul acted surprised. “How was I to know he was Chief Priest? He doesn’t act like a Chief Priest. You’re right, the Scripture does say, ‘Don’t speak abusively to a ruler of the people.’ Sorry.”
6Paul, knowing some of the council was made up of Sadducees and others of Pharisees and how they hated each other, decided to exploit their antagonism: “Friends, I am a stalwart Pharisee from a long line of Pharisees. It’s because of my Pharisee convictions—the hope and resurrection of the dead—that I’ve been hauled into this court.”
7-9The moment he said this, the council split right down the middle, Pharisees and Sadducees going at each other in heated argument. Sadducees have nothing to do with a resurrection or angels or even a spirit. If they can’t see it, they don’t believe it. Pharisees believe it all. And so a huge and noisy quarrel broke out. Then some of the religion scholars on the Pharisee side shouted down the others: “We don’t find anything wrong with this man! And what if a spirit has spoken to him? Or maybe an angel? What if it turns out we’re fighting against God?”
10That was fuel on the fire. The quarrel flamed up and became so violent the captain was afraid they would tear Paul apart, limb from limb. He ordered the soldiers to get him out of there and escort him back to the safety of the barracks.
A Plot Against Paul
11That night the Master appeared to Paul: “It’s going to be all right. Everything is going to turn out for the best. You’ve been a good witness for me here in Jerusalem. Now you’re going to be my witness in Rome!”
12-15Next day the Jews worked up a plot against Paul. They took a solemn oath that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed him. Over forty of them ritually bound themselves to this murder pact and presented themselves to the high priests and religious leaders. “We’ve bound ourselves by a solemn oath to eat nothing until we have killed Paul. But we need your help. Send a request from the council to the captain to bring Paul back so that you can investigate the charges in more detail. We’ll do the rest. Before he gets anywhere near you, we’ll have killed him. You won’t be involved.”
16-17Paul’s nephew, his sister’s son, overheard them plotting the ambush. He went immediately to the barracks and told Paul. Paul called over one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the captain. He has something important to tell him.”
18The centurion brought him to the captain and said, “The prisoner Paul asked me to bring this young man to you. He said he has something urgent to tell you.”
19The captain took him by the arm and led him aside privately. “What is it? What do you have to tell me?”
20-21Paul’s nephew said, “The Jews have worked up a plot against Paul. They’re going to ask you to bring Paul to the council first thing in the morning on the pretext that they want to investigate the charges against him in more detail. But it’s a trick to get him out of your safekeeping so they can murder him. Right now there are more than forty men lying in ambush for him. They’ve all taken a vow to neither eat nor drink until they’ve killed him. The ambush is set—all they’re waiting for is for you to send him over.”
22The captain dismissed the nephew with a warning: “Don’t breathe a word of this to a soul.”
23-24The captain called up two centurions. “Get two hundred soldiers ready to go immediately to Caesarea. Also seventy cavalry and two hundred light infantry. I want them ready to march by nine o’clock tonight. And you’ll need a couple of mules for Paul and his gear. We’re going to present this man safe and sound to Governor Felix.”
25-30Then he wrote this letter:
From Claudius Lysias, to the Most Honorable Governor Felix:
Greetings!
I rescued this man from a Jewish mob. They had seized him and were about to kill him when I learned that he was a Roman citizen. So I sent in my soldiers. Wanting to know what he had done wrong, I had him brought before their council. It turned out to be a squabble turned vicious over some of their religious differences, but nothing remotely criminal.
The next thing I knew, they had cooked up a plot to murder him. I decided that for his own safety I’d better get him out of here in a hurry. So I’m sending him to you. I’m informing his accusers that he’s now under your jurisdiction.
31-33The soldiers, following orders, took Paul that same night to safety in Antipatris. In the morning the soldiers returned to their barracks in Jerusalem, sending Paul on to Caesarea under guard of the cavalry. The cavalry entered Caesarea and handed Paul and the letter over to the governor.
34-35After reading the letter, the governor asked Paul what province he came from and was told “Cilicia.” Then he said, “I’ll take up your case when your accusers show up.” He ordered him locked up for the meantime in King Herod’s official quarters.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.