²⁴ Suddenly, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!”

¹³ When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.^{[a] 14} But people who aren’t spiritual^[b] can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

²³ So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

¹³ If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.

¹⁰ Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed.

²¹ When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.

¹¹ Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus.^[a] I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.

¹¹ Jehu went back to his fellow officers, and one of them asked him, “What did that madman want? Is everything all right?”

“You know how a man like that babbles on,” Jehu replied.

³² When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.”