Acts 21:31-24:22

New International Reader's Version

³¹ The people were trying to kill Paul. But news reached the commander of the Roman troops. He heard that people were making trouble in the whole city of Jerusalem. ³² Right away he took some officers and soldiers with him. They ran down to the crowd. The people causing the trouble saw the commander and his soldiers. So they stopped beating Paul.

³³ The commander came up and arrested Paul. He ordered him to be held with two chains. Then he asked who Paul was and what he had done. ³⁴ Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another. But the commander couldn’t get the facts because of all the noise. So he ordered that Paul be taken into the fort. ³⁵ Paul reached the steps. But then the mob became so wild that he had to be carried by the soldiers. ³⁶ The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”

Paul Speaks to the Crowd

³⁷ The soldiers were about to take Paul into the fort. Then he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”

“Do you speak Greek?” he replied. ³⁸ “Aren’t you the Egyptian who turned some of our people against their leaders? Didn’t you lead 4,000 terrorists out into the desert some time ago?”

³⁹ Paul answered, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia. I am a citizen of an important city. Please let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰ The commander told him he could. So Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When all of them were quiet, he spoke to them in the Aramaic language. 22 ¹ “Brothers and fathers,” Paul began, “listen to me now. I want to give you reasons for my actions.”

² When they heard that he was speaking to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.

Then Paul said, ³ “I am a Jew. I was born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but I grew up here in Jerusalem. I studied with Gamaliel. I was well trained by him in the law given to our people long ago. I wanted to serve God as much as any of you do today. ⁴ I hurt the followers of the Way of Jesus. I sent many of them to their death. I arrested men and women. I threw them into prison. ⁵ The high priest and the whole Council can be witnesses of this themselves. I even had some official letters they had written to their friends in Damascus. So I went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶ “I had almost reached Damascus. About noon a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice speak to me. ‘Saul! Saul!’ it said. ‘Why are you opposing me?’

⁸ “ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth,’ he replied. ‘I am the one you are opposing.’ ⁹ The light was seen by my companions. But they didn’t understand the voice of the one speaking to me.

¹⁰ “ ‘What should I do, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said. ‘Go into Damascus. There you will be told everything you have been given to do.’ ¹¹ The brightness of the light had blinded me. So my companions led me by the hand into Damascus.

¹² “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a godly Jew who obeyed the law. All the Jews living there respected him very much. ¹³ He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ At that very moment I was able to see him.

¹⁴ “Then he said, ‘The God of our people has chosen you. He wanted to tell you his plans for you. You have seen the Blameless One. You have heard words from his mouth. ¹⁵ Now you will tell everyone about what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ So what are you waiting for? Get up and call on his name. Be baptized. Have your sins washed away.’

¹⁷ “I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple. Then it seemed to me that I was dreaming. ¹⁸ I saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem at once. The people here will not accept what you tell them about me.’

¹⁹ “ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know what I used to do. I went from one synagogue to another and put believers in prison. I also beat them. ²⁰ Stephen was a man who told other people about you. I stood there when he was killed. I had agreed that he should die. I even guarded the coats of those who were killing him.’

²¹ “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go. I will send you far away to people who are not Jews.’ ”

Paul the Roman Citizen

²² The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they shouted, “Kill him! He isn’t fit to live!”

²³ They shouted and threw off their coats. They threw dust into the air. ²⁴ So the commanding officer ordered that Paul be taken into the fort. He gave orders for Paul to be whipped and questioned. He wanted to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. ²⁵ A commander was standing there as they stretched Paul out to be whipped. Paul said to him, “Does the law allow you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”

²⁶ When the commander heard this, he went to the commanding officer and reported it. “What are you going to do?” the commander asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷ So the commanding officer went to Paul. “Tell me,” he asked. “Are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes, I am,” Paul answered.

²⁸ Then the officer said, “I had to pay a lot of money to become a citizen.”

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

²⁹ Right away those who were about to question him left. Even the officer was alarmed. He realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

Paul Is Taken to the Sanhedrin

³⁰ The commanding officer wanted to find out exactly what the Jews had against Paul. So the next day he let Paul out of prison. He ordered a meeting of the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin. Then he brought Paul and had him stand in front of them.

23 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin. “My brothers,” he said, “I have always done my duty to God. To this day I feel that I have done nothing wrong.” ² Ananias the high priest heard this. So he ordered the men standing near Paul to hit him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “You pretender! God will hit you! You sit there and judge me by the law. But you yourself broke the law when you commanded them to hit me!”

⁴ Those who were standing near Paul spoke to him. They said, “How dare you talk like that to God’s high priest!”

⁵ Paul replied, “Brothers, I didn’t realize he was the high priest. It is written, ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’ ” (Exodus 22:28)

⁶ Paul knew that some of them were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees. So he called out to the members of the Sanhedrin. “My brothers,” he said, “I am a Pharisee. I come from a family of Pharisees. I believe that people will rise from the dead. That’s why I am on trial.” ⁷ When he said this, the Pharisees and the Sadducees started to argue. They began to take sides. ⁸ The Sadducees say that people will not rise from the dead. They don’t believe there are angels or spirits either. But the Pharisees believe all these things.

⁹ People were causing trouble and making a lot of noise. Some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up. They argued strongly. “We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said. “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” ¹⁰ The people arguing were getting out of control. The commanding officer was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them. So he ordered the soldiers to go down and take him away from them by force. The officer had told them to bring Paul into the fort.

¹¹ The next night the Lord stood near Paul. He said, “Be brave! You have told people about me in Jerusalem. You must do the same in Rome.”

The Plan to Kill Paul

¹² The next morning some Jews gathered secretly to make plans against Paul. They made a promise to themselves. They promised that they would not eat or drink anything until they killed him. ¹³ More than 40 men took part in this plan. ¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and the elders. They said, “We have made a special promise to God. We will not eat anything until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ Now then, you and the Sanhedrin must make an appeal to the commanding officer. Ask him to bring Paul to you. Pretend you want more facts about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here.”

¹⁶ But Paul’s nephew heard about this plan. So he went into the fort and told Paul.

¹⁷ Then Paul called one of the commanders. He said to him, “Take this young man to the commanding officer. He has something to tell him.” ¹⁸ So the commander took Paul’s nephew to the officer.

The commander said, “Paul, the prisoner, sent for me. He asked me to bring this young man to you. The young man has something to tell you.”

¹⁹ The commanding officer took the young man by the hand. He spoke to him in private. “What do you want to tell me?” the officer asked.

²⁰ He said, “Some Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul to the Sanhedrin tomorrow. They will pretend they want more facts about him. ²¹ Don’t give in to them. More than 40 of them are waiting in hiding to attack him. They have promised that they will not eat or drink anything until they have killed him. They are ready now. All they need is for you to bring Paul to the Sanhedrin.”

²² The commanding officer let the young man go. But he gave him a warning. “Don’t tell anyone you have reported this to me,” he said.

Paul Is Taken to Caesarea

²³ Then the commanding officer called for two of his commanders. He ordered them, “Gather a company of 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 men armed with spears. Get them ready to go to Caesarea at nine o’clock tonight. ²⁴ Provide horses for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.”

²⁵ Here is the letter the officer wrote.

²⁶ I, Claudius Lysias, am writing this letter.

I am sending it to His Excellency, Governor Felix.

Greetings.

²⁷ The Jews grabbed Paul. They were about to kill him. But I came with my soldiers and saved him. I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. ²⁸ I wanted to know why they were bringing charges against him. So I brought him to their Sanhedrin. ²⁹ I found out that the charge against him was based on questions about their law. But there was no charge against him worthy of death or prison. ³⁰ Then I was told about a plan against the man. So I sent him to you at once. I also ordered those bringing charges against him to present their case to you.

³¹ The soldiers followed their orders. During the night they took Paul with them. They brought him as far as Antipatris. ³² The next day they let the horsemen go on with him. The soldiers returned to the fort. ³³ The horsemen arrived in Caesarea. They gave the letter to the governor. Then they handed Paul over to him. ³⁴ The governor read the letter. He asked Paul where he was from. He learned that Paul was from Cilicia. ³⁵ So he said, “I will hear your case when those bringing charges against you get here.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.

Paul’s Trial in Front of Felix

24 Five days later Ananias the high priest went down to Caesarea. Some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus went with him. They brought their charges against Paul to the governor. ² So Paul was called in. Tertullus began to bring the charges against Paul. He said to Felix, “We have enjoyed a long time of peace while you have been ruling. You are a wise leader. You have made this a better nation. ³ Most excellent Felix, we gladly admit this everywhere and in every way. And we are very thankful. ⁴ I don’t want to bother you. But would you be kind enough to listen to us for a short time?

⁵ “We have found that Paul is a troublemaker. This man stirs up trouble among Jews all over the world. He is a leader of those who follow Jesus of Nazareth. ^6-7 He even tried to make our temple impure. So we arrested him. ⁸ Question him yourself. Then you will learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.”

⁹ The other Jews said the same thing. They agreed that the charges were true.

¹⁰ The governor motioned for Paul to speak. Paul said, “I know that you have been a judge over this nation for quite a few years. So I am glad to explain my actions to you. ¹¹ About 12 days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. You can easily check on this. ¹² Those bringing charges against me did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple. I wasn’t stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. ¹³ They can’t prove to you any of the charges they are making against me. ¹⁴ It is true that I worship the God of our people. I am a follower of the Way of Jesus. Those bringing charges against me call it a cult. I believe everything that is in keeping with the Law. I believe everything that is in keeping with what is written in the Prophets. ¹⁵ I have the same hope in God that these men themselves have. I believe that both the godly and the ungodly will rise from the dead. ¹⁶ So I always try not to do anything wrong in the eyes of God or in the eyes of people.

¹⁷ “I was away for several years. Then I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for those who were poor. I also came to offer sacrifices. ¹⁸ They found me doing this in the temple courtyard. I had already been made pure and ‘clean’ in the usual way. There was no crowd with me. I didn’t stir up any trouble. ¹⁹ But there are some other Jews who should be here in front of you. They are from Asia Minor. They should bring charges if they have anything against me. ²⁰ Let the Jews who are here tell you what crime I am guilty of. After all, I was put on trial by the Sanhedrin. ²¹ Perhaps they blame me for what I said when I was on trial. I shouted, ‘I believe that people will rise from the dead. That is why I am on trial here today.’ ”

²² Felix knew all about the Way of Jesus. So he put off the trial for the time being. “Lysias the commanding officer will come,” he said. “Then I will decide your case.”