Chapter 25

Paul’s Third Trial—before Festus.^{[a] 1} Three days after his arrival in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, ² where the chief priests and the leaders of the Jews informed him about Paul. They urged him ³ as a favor to send for Paul to bring him to Jerusalem. They were going to kill him in an ambush along the way.

⁴ Festus replied that Paul was in custody in Caesarea, and that he himself would be returning there shortly. ⁵ He said, “Let your authorities come down with me, and if this man has done something improper, they can bring a charge against him.”

⁶ After staying with them for eight to ten days, Festus went down to Caesarea. On the next day, he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be summoned. ⁷ When he appeared, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, and they leveled many serious charges against him that they were unable to prove.

⁸ Paul said in his defense, “I have committed no offense against the Jewish Law, or against the temple, or against the Emperor.” ⁹ Festus, anxious to ingratiate himself with the Jews, asked Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial there before me on these charges?”

¹⁰ Paul replied, “I am standing before the tribunal of Caesar, and this is where I should be tried. I have committed no crime against the Jews, as you yourself well know. ¹¹ If I am guilty of any capital crime, I do not ask to be spared death. However, if there is no substance to the charges they are bringing against me, then no one has the right to turn me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.”^{[b] 12} Then, after Festus had conferred with his advisors, he said, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you shall go.”

¹³ Paul’s Fourth Trial—before Agrippa.^[c] Some days later, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. ¹⁴ Since they spent several days there, Festus raised the subject of Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man here who was left in custody by Felix. ¹⁵ When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him and requested his condemnation. ¹⁶ I told them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before he had met his accusers face to face and had had an opportunity to defend himself against their charges.

¹⁷ “Therefore, when they had come here, I wasted no time; the very next day, I took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be summoned. ¹⁸ When the accusers rose, they did not charge him with any of the crimes that I was expecting. ¹⁹ Instead, they had certain points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about someone named Jesus, a dead man who Paul asserted was alive.

²⁰ “Since I did not feel qualified to deal with such questions, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to stand trial on these charges. ²¹ But Paul appealed to be held in custody for the Emperor’s decision, and I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.” ²² Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man for myself.” He replied, “Tomorrow you will hear him.”

²³ On the next day, Agrippa and Bernice arrived with great pomp and entered the audience hall, accompanied by officers of high rank and prominent men of the city. Festus ordered Paul to be brought in. ²⁴ Then he said, “King Agrippa and all of you here present with us, you see this man about whom the entire Jewish community petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting loudly that he should not be allowed to live any longer.

²⁵ “I have found nothing deserving of death, but when he made his appeal to the Emperor, I decided to send him. ²⁶ However, I have nothing definite about him to put in writing for our sovereign. Therefore, I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this examination I may have something to write. ²⁷ For it seems senseless to me to send on a prisoner without indicating the charges against him.”