King Agrippa Meets Paul

¹³ After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to welcome Festus. ¹⁴ Since they were staying there for several days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king. He said, “There is a man here who was left in prison by Felix. ¹⁵ When I went to Jerusalem, the high priests and the Jewish elders informed me about him and asked me to condemn him. ¹⁶ I answered them that it was not the Roman custom to sentence a man to be punished until the accused met his accusers face to face and had an opportunity to defend himself against the charge. ¹⁷ So they came here with me, and the next day without any delay I sat down in the judge’s seat and ordered the man to be brought in. ¹⁸ When his accusers stood up, they didn’t accuse him of any of the crimes^[a] I was expecting. ¹⁹ Instead, they had several arguments with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died—but Paul kept asserting he was alive. ²⁰ I was puzzled how I should investigate such matters, so I asked if he would like to go to Jerusalem and be tried there for these things. ²¹ But Paul appealed his case and asked to be held in prison until the decision of his Majesty. So I ordered him to be held in custody until I could send him to the emperor.”

²² Agrippa told Festus, “I would like to hear the man.”

“Tomorrow,” he said, “you will hear him.”