⁶ Festus^[a] stayed with them no more than eight or ten days and then went down to Caesarea. The next day, he sat on the judge’s seat and ordered Paul brought in. ⁷ When Paul^[b] arrived, the Jewish leaders^[c] who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him and began bringing a number of serious charges against him that they couldn’t prove. ⁸ Paul said in his defense, “I have done nothing wrong against the Law of the Jews, or of the Temple, or of the emperor.”

⁹ Then Festus, wanting to do the Jewish leaders^[d] a favor, asked Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried there before me on these charges?”

¹⁰ But Paul said, “I am standing before the emperor’s judgment seat where I ought to be tried. I haven’t done anything wrong to the Jewish leaders,^[e] as you know very well. ¹¹ If I’m guilty and have done something that deserves death, I’m willing to die. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can hand me over to them as a favor. I appeal to the emperor!”

¹² Festus talked it over with the council and then answered, “To the emperor you have appealed; to the emperor you will go!”