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Paul Appears before Felix

24 Five days later Ananias, the high priest, arrived with some of the Jewish elders and the lawyer[a] Tertullus, to present their case against Paul to the governor. When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented the charges against Paul in the following address to the governor:

“You have provided a long period of peace for us Jews and with foresight have enacted reforms for us. For all of this, Your Excellency, we are very grateful to you. But I don’t want to bore you, so please give me your attention for only a moment. We have found this man to be a troublemaker who is constantly stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the cult known as the Nazarenes. Furthermore, he was trying to desecrate the Temple when we arrested him.[b] You can find out the truth of our accusations by examining him yourself.” Then the other Jews chimed in, declaring that everything Tertullus said was true.

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Footnotes

  1. 24:1 Greek some elders and an orator.
  2. 24:6 Some manuscripts add an expanded conclusion to verse 6, all of verse 7, and an additional phrase in verse 8: We would have judged him by our law, but Lysias, the commander of the garrison, came and violently took him away from us, commanding his accusers to come before you.

Paul Presents His Case to Felix

24 Five days later, the high priest Ananias arrived with certain elders and Tertullus, an attorney, and they summarized their case against Paul before the governor. When Paul[a] had been summoned, Tertullus opened the prosecution by saying:

“Your Excellency Felix, since we are enjoying lasting peace because of you, and since reforms for this nation are being brought about through your foresight, we always and everywhere acknowledge it with profound gratitude. But so as not to detain you any further, I beg you to hear us briefly with your customary graciousness. For we have found this man a perfect pest and an agitator among all Jews throughout the world. He is a ringleader in the sect of the Nazarenes[b] and even tried to profane the Temple, but we arrested him.[c] By examining him for yourself, you will be able to find out from him everything of which we accuse him.”

The Jewish leaders[d] supported his accusations by asserting that these things were true.

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 24:2 Lit. he
  2. Acts 24:5 The Gk. Nazoraios may be a word play between Heb. netser, meaning branch (cf. Isa 11:1), and the name Nazareth.
  3. Acts 24:6 Other mss. read arrested him, and we wanted to try him under our law. But Tribune Lysias came along and took him out of our hands with much force, ordering his accusers to come before you.
  4. Acts 24:9 I.e. Judean leaders; lit. The Jews