Acts 25

¹Three days after his arrival in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem,

²[where] the chief priests and Jewish leaders presented their case against Paul. They urged [Festus]

³to grant them a concession against [Paul] by summoning him to Jerusalem, [ because ] they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.

⁴But Festus replied, “Paul is being held in Caesarea, and [I myself] am going there soon.

⁵So if [this] man has done anything wrong, {let} some of your leaders come down with me and accuse him [there].”

⁶[After] spending no more than eight or ten days with them, [Festus] went down to Caesarea. The next day he sat on the judgment seat [and] ordered that Paul be brought in.

⁷[When] [Paul] arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they could not prove.

⁸[Then] Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews [or] against the temple [or] against Caesar.”

⁹But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to stand trial before me on these [charges]?”

¹⁰Paul replied, “I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to [the] Jews, as you [yourself] know very well.

¹¹If, however, I am guilty [of] anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is no [truth] to their accusations against me, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

¹²Then Festus conferred with [his] council [and] replied, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!”

¹³[After] several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice came down to Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.

¹⁴Since they were staying several days, Festus laid out Paul’s case before the king: “There is a certain man [whom] Felix left in prison.

¹⁵While I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews presented their case [and] requested a judgment against him.

¹⁶I told [them] that it is not [the] Roman custom to hand a man {over} before [he] has had [an] opportunity to face [his] accusers and defend himself against [their] charges.

¹⁷So [when] they came here {with me}, I did not delay. The next [day] I sat on the judgment seat [and] ordered that the man be brought in.

¹⁸[But when his] accusers rose to speak, they did not charge [him] with [any of the] crimes I had expected.

¹⁹They only had some contentions with him regarding [their] own religion and a certain Jesus [who] had died, [but] whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

²⁰[Since] I was at a loss as to how to investigate these [matters], I asked if he was willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried {there} on these [charges].

²¹But [when] Paul appealed to be held over for the decision of the Emperor, I ordered that he be held until I could send him to Caesar.”

²²Then Agrippa [said] to Festus, “I would like to hear [this] man myself.”“Tomorrow you will hear him,” Festus declared.

²³The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the auditorium, along with [the] commanders and leading men of the city. And Festus ordered that Paul be brought in.

²⁴Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all [who] are present with us, you see this [man]. The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about [him], both here and in Jerusalem, crying out [that] he ought not to live [any] longer.

²⁵But I found he had done nothing worthy of death, [and] since he has now appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send [him].

²⁶I have nothing definite to write to [our] sovereign about [him]. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this inquiry I may have something to write.

²⁷For it seems unreasonable to me to send on a prisoner without specifying the charges against him.”