Acts 25-28

Complete Jewish Bible

25 Three days after Festus had entered the province, he went up from Caesarea to Yerushalayim. ² There the head cohanim and the Judean leaders informed him of the case against Sha’ul, and they asked him ³ to do them the favor of having the man sent to Yerushalayim. (They had plotted to have him ambushed and killed en route.) ⁴ Festus replied that Sha’ul was being kept under guard in Caesarea, and that he was about to go there shortly himself. ⁵ “So,” he said, “let competent men among you come down with me and press charges against the man, if he has done something wrong.”

⁶ After staying with them at most eight or ten days, Festus went down to Caesarea; and on the following day, he took his seat in court and ordered Sha’ul to be brought in. ⁷ When he arrived, the Judeans who had come down from Yerushalayim stood around him, bringing many serious charges against him which they could not prove. ⁸ In reply, Sha’ul said, “I have committed no offense — not against the Torah to which the Jews hold, not against the Temple, and not against the Emperor.”

⁹ But Festus, wanting to do the Judeans a favor, asked Sha’ul, “Would you be willing to go up to Yerushalayim and be tried before me there on these charges?” ¹⁰ Sha’ul replied, “I am standing right now in the court of the Emperor, and this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Judeans, as you very well know. ¹¹ If I am a wrongdoer, if I have done something for which I deserve to die, then I am ready to die. But if there is nothing to these charges which they are bringing against me, no one can give me to them just to grant a favor! I appeal to the Emperor!” ¹² Then Festus, after talking with his advisers, answered, “You have appealed to the Emperor; you will go to the Emperor!”

¹³ After some days, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. ¹⁴ Since they were staying on there for some time, Festus had the opportunity to acquaint the king with Sha’ul’s situation. “There is a man here,” he said, “who was left behind in custody by Felix. ¹⁵ When I was in Yerushalayim, the head cohanim and the elders of the Judeans informed me about him and asked me to pronounce judgment against him. ¹⁶ My answer to them was that it is not the custom with Romans to give up an accused man just to grant a favor, before he has met his accusers face to face and had the opportunity to defend himself against the charge. ¹⁷ So when they arrived here with me, I did not delay, but took my seat in court the next day and ordered the man brought in.

¹⁸ “When the accusers stood up, instead of charging him with some serious crime as I had expected, ¹⁹ they disputed with him about certain points of their own religion, and particularly about somebody called Yeshua, who had died, but who Sha’ul claimed was alive. ²⁰ Being at a loss as to how to investigate such questions, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Yerushalayim and be tried on these matters there. ²¹ But since Sha’ul appealed to be kept in custody and have his case decided by His Imperial Majesty, I ordered him held until I could send him to the Emperor.”

²² Agrippa said to Festus, “I myself have been wanting to hear the man.” “Tomorrow,” he replied, “You will hear him.”

²³ So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with much pageantry; they entered the audience room accompanied by military commanders and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Sha’ul was brought in. ²⁴ Festus said, “King Agrippa and all of you here with us, do you see this man? The whole Judean community has complained to me about him both in Yerushalayim and here, crying that he shouldn’t be allowed to remain alive. ²⁵ But I discovered that he had done nothing that deserves a death sentence. Now when he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. ²⁶ However, I have nothing specific to write to His Majesty about him. This is why I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa — so that after we have examined him, I might have something to write. ²⁷ It seems irrational to me to send a prisoner without also indicating what the charges against him are.”

26 Agrippa said to Sha’ul, “You have permission to speak on your own behalf.” Then Sha’ul motioned with his hand and began his defense:

² “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that it is before you today that I am defending myself against all the charges made against me by Jews, ³ because you are so well informed about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴ “So then! All Jews know how I lived my life from my youth on, both in my own country and in Yerushalayim. ⁵ They have known me for a long time; and if they are willing, they can testify that I have followed the strictest party in our religion — that is, I have lived as a Parush. ⁶ How ironic it is that I stand on trial here because of my hope in the promise made to our fathers! ⁷ It is the fulfillment of this very promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they resolutely carry on their acts of worship night and day; yet it is in connection with this hope, your Majesty, that I am being accused by Jews! ⁸ Why do you people consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹ “I used to think it was my duty to do all I could to combat the name of Yeshua from Natzeret; ¹⁰ and in Yerushalayim I did so. After receiving authority from the head cohanim, I myself threw many of God’s people in prison; when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ Often I went from one synagogue to another, punishing them and trying to make them blaspheme; and in my wild fury against them, I even went so far as to persecute them in cities outside the country.

¹² “On one such occasion, I was traveling to Dammesek with the full authority and power of the head cohanim. ¹³ I was on the road, and it was noon, your Majesty, when I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my traveling companions. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground; and then I heard a voice saying to me, in Hebrew, ‘Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me? It’s hard on you to be kicking against the ox-goads!’ ¹⁵ I said, ‘Who are you, sir?’ and the Lord answered, ‘I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me! ¹⁶ But get up, and stand on your feet! I have appeared to you to appoint you to serve and bear witness to what you have already seen of me, and to what you will see when I appear to you in the future. ¹⁷ I will deliver you from the People and from the Goyim. I am sending you ¹⁸ to open their eyes; so that they will turn from darkness to light, from the power of the Adversary to God, and thus receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who have been separated for holiness by putting their trust in me.’

¹⁹ “So, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the vision from heaven! ²⁰ On the contrary, I announced first in Dammesek, then in Yerushalayim and throughout Y’hudah, and also to the Goyim, that they should turn from their sins to God and then do deeds consistent with that repentance. ²¹ It was because of these things that Jews seized me in the Temple and tried to kill me. ²² However, I have had God’s help; so to this day, I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what both the prophets and Moshe said would happen — ²³ that the Messiah would die, and that he, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to both the People and the Goyim.”

²⁴ But just as he reached this point in his defense, Festus shouted at the top of his voice, “Sha’ul, you’re out of your mind! So much learning is driving you crazy!”

²⁵ But Sha’ul said, “No, I am not ‘crazy,’ Festus, your Excellency; on the contrary, I am speaking words of truth and sanity. ²⁶ For the king understands these matters, so to him I express myself freely, because I am sure that none of these things have been hidden from him. After all, they didn’t happen in some back alley. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe!”

²⁸ Agrippa said to Sha’ul, “In this short time, you’re trying to convince me to become Messianic?” ²⁹ Sha’ul replied, “Whether it takes a short time or a long time, I wish to God that not only you, but also everyone hearing me today, might become just like me except for these chains!”

³⁰ Then the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and the others sitting with them. ³¹ After they had left, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing that deserves either death or prison.” ³² And Agrippa said to Festus, “If he hadn’t appealed to the Emperor, he could have been released.”

27 Once it had been decided that we should set sail for Italy, they handed Sha’ul and some other prisoners over to an officer of the Emperor’s Regiment named Julius. ² We embarked in a ship from Adramyttium which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and put out to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. ³ The next day, we landed at Tzidon; and Julius considerately allowed Sha’ul to go visit his friends and receive what he needed. ⁴ Putting to sea from there, we sailed close to the sheltered side of Cyprus because the winds were against us, ⁵ then across the open sea along the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia; and so we reached Myra in Lycia.

⁶ There the Roman officer found an Alexandrian vessel sailing to Italy and put us aboard. ⁷ For a number of days we made little headway, and we arrived off Cnidus only with difficulty. The wind would not let us continue any farther along the direct route; so we ran down along the sheltered side of Crete from Cape Salmone; ⁸ and, continuing to struggle on, hugging the coast, we reached a place called Pleasant Harbor, near the town of Lasea.

⁹ Since much time had been lost, and continuing the voyage was risky, because it was already past Yom-Kippur, Sha’ul advised them, ¹⁰ “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be a catastrophe, not only with huge losses to the cargo and the ship but with loss of our lives as well.” ¹¹ However, the officer paid more attention to the pilot and the ship’s owner than to what Sha’ul said. ¹² Moreover, since the harbor was not well suited to sitting out the winter, the majority reached the decision to sail on from there in the hope of reaching Phoenix, another harbor in Crete, and wintering there, where it is protected from the southwest and northwest winds.

¹³ When a gentle southerly breeze began to blow, they thought that they had their goal within grasp; so they raised the anchor and started coasting by Crete close to shore. ¹⁴ But before long there struck us from land a full gale from the northeast, the kind they call an Evrakilon. ¹⁵ The ship was caught up and unable to face the wind, so we gave way to it and were driven along.

¹⁶ As we passed into the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with strenuous effort to get control of the lifeboat. ¹⁷ They hoisted it aboard, then fastened cables tightly around the ship itself to reinforce it. Fearing they might run aground on the Syrtis sandbars, they lowered the topsails and thus continued drifting. ¹⁸ But because we were fighting such heavy weather, the next day they began to jettison non-essentials; ¹⁹ and the third day, they threw the ship’s sailing equipment overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ For many days neither the sun nor the stars appeared, while the storm continued to rage, until gradually all hope of survival vanished.

²¹ It was then, when they had gone a long time without eating, that Sha’ul stood up in front of them and said, “You should have listened to me and not set out from Crete; if you had, you would have escaped this disastrous loss. ²² But now, my advice to you is to take heart; because not one of you will lose his life — only the ship will be lost. ²³ For this very night, there stood next to me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve. ²⁴ He said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Sha’ul! you have to stand before the Emperor. Look! God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So, men, take heart! For I trust God and believe that what I have been told will come true. ²⁶ Nevertheless, we have to run aground on some island.”

²⁷ It was the fourteenth night, and we were still being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, when around midnight the sailors sensed that we were nearing land. ²⁸ So they dropped a plumbline and found the water one hundred and twenty feet deep. A little farther on, they took another sounding and found it ninety feet. ²⁹ Fearing we might run on the rocks, they let out four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.

³⁰ At this point, the crew made an attempt to abandon ship — they lowered the lifeboat into the sea, pretending that they were about to let out some anchors from the bow. ³¹ Sha’ul said to the officer and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain aboard the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the lifeboat and let it go.

³³ Just before daybreak, Sha’ul urged them all to eat, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense, going hungry, eating nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I advise you to take some food; you need it for your own survival. For not one of you will lose so much as a hair from his head.” ³⁵ When he had said this, he took bread, said the b’rakhah to God in front of everyone, broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ With courage restored, they all ate some food themselves. ³⁷ Altogether there were 276 of us on board the ship. ³⁸ After they had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by dumping the grain into the sea.

³⁹ When day broke, they didn’t recognize the land; but they noticed a bay with a sand beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. ⁴⁰ So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea; at the same time, they loosened the ropes that held the rudders out of the water. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach. ⁴¹ But they encountered a place where two currents meet, and ran the vessel aground on the sandbar there. The bow stuck and would not move, while the pounding of the surf began to break up the stern.

⁴² At this point the soldiers’ thought was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim off and escape. ⁴³ But the officer, wanting to save Sha’ul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to throw themselves overboard first and head for shore, ⁴⁴ and the rest to use planks or whatever they could find from the ship. Thus it was that everyone reached land safely.

28 After our escape, we learned that the island was called Malta. ² Its people showed extraordinary kindness — it was cold and it had started to rain, so they lit a bonfire and welcomed us all. ³ Sha’ul had gathered a bundle of sticks and was adding them to the fire, when a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand. ⁴ The islanders saw the creature hanging from Sha’ul’s hand and said to one another, “This man must be a murderer. Even though he escaped the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm. ⁶ They waited, expecting him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing that nothing amiss was happening to him, they reversed their opinion and said he was a god.

⁷ Nearby were lands belonging to the governor of the island, whose name was Publius. He received us in a friendly manner and put us up for three days. ⁸ Now it so happened that Publius’ father was lying in bed, sick with fever attacks and dysentery. Sha’ul went in to him, prayed, placed his hands on him and healed him. ⁹ After this happened, the rest of those on the island who had ailments came and were healed. ¹⁰ They heaped honors on us; and when the time came for us to sail, they provided the supplies we needed.

¹¹ After three months, we sailed away on a ship from Alexandria called “Twin Gods,” which had passed the winter at the island. ¹² We landed at Syracuse and stayed three days. ¹³ From there, we arrived at Rhegium by tacking; but after one day, a south wind sprang up; so we made it to Puteoli the second day. ¹⁴ There we found brothers who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we went on toward Rome.

¹⁵ The brothers there had heard about us and came as far as Appian Market and Three Inns to meet us. When Sha’ul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. ¹⁶ And when we arrived at Rome, the officer allowed Sha’ul to stay by himself, though guarded by a soldier.

¹⁷ After three days Sha’ul called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders. When they had gathered, he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against either our people or the traditions of our fathers, I was made a prisoner in Yerushalayim and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸ They examined me and were ready to release me, because I had done nothing to justify a death sentence. ¹⁹ But when the Judeans objected, I was forced to appeal to the Emperor — not that I had any charge to make against my own people. ²⁰ This is why I have asked to see you and speak with you, for it is because of the hope of Isra’el that I have this chain around me.”

²¹ They said to him, “We have not received any letters about you from Y’hudah, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. ²² But we do think it would be appropriate to hear your views from you, yourself; for all we know about this sect is that people everywhere speak against it.”

²³ So they arranged a day with him and came to his quarters in large numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, giving a thorough witness about the Kingdom of God and making use of both the Torah of Moshe and the Prophets to persuade them about Yeshua. ²⁴ Some were convinced by what he said, ²⁵ while others refused to believe.

So they left, disagreeing among themselves, after Sha’ul had made one final statement: “The Ruach HaKodesh spoke well in saying to your fathers through Yesha‘yahu the prophet,

²⁸ Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Goyim, and they will listen!” ^29 [b]

³⁰ Sha’ul remained two whole years in a place he rented for himself; and he continued receiving all who came to see him, ³¹ openly and without hindrance proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.