Paul on Trial Before the Sanhedrin

³⁰ The next day, since the commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he untied him and ordered the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to meet. Then he brought Paul down and had him stand before them.

23 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Gentlemen,^[a] brothers, I have lived my life before God with a completely clear conscience to this very day.”

² But the high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there judging me according to the law, and then you order them to strike me contrary to the law!”

⁴ Those who were standing nearby said, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?”

⁵ Paul replied, “I did not know, brothers, that he is the high priest. Indeed, it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil about a ruler of your people.’”^[b]

⁶ When Paul realized that some of them were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees, he shouted out in the Sanhedrin, “Gentlemen, brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope for the resurrection of the dead!”

⁷ When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ (For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection or angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in them all.) ⁹ Then there was a great uproar, and some of the experts in the law who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and protested strongly: “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?”^[c]

¹⁰ The uproar became so great that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He commanded the soldiers to go down, take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹ The following night the Lord stood next to Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have solemnly testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”