²⁴ “Show me a Roman coin.^[a] Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

²⁸ “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.^[a] He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

²² And all the rest of God’s people send you greetings, too, especially those in Caesar’s household.

³² And Agrippa said to Festus, “He could have been set free if he hadn’t appealed to Caesar.”

⁸ Paul denied the charges. “I am not guilty of any crime against the Jewish laws or the Temple or the Roman government,” he said.

⁹ Then Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked him, “Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there?”

¹⁰ But Paul replied, “No! This is the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well I am not guilty of harming the Jews. ¹¹ If I have done something worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die. But if I am innocent, no one has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!”

¹² Festus conferred with his advisers and then replied, “Very well! You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will go!”

²⁸ One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)

² They began to state their case: “This man has been leading our people astray by telling them not to pay their taxes to the Roman government and by claiming he is the Messiah, a king.”

²² Now tell us—is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3 It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler^[a] over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler^[b] over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene.

The Birth of Jesus

2 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire.