Beginning
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. 2 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, 3 we always and everywhere acknowledge it with profound gratitude. 4 But so as not to detain you any further, I beg you to hear us briefly with your customary graciousness. 5 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] 6 and even tried to profane the Temple, but we arrested him.[c] 8 By examining him for yourself, you will be able to find out from him everything of which we accuse him.”
9 The Jewish leaders[d] supported his accusations by asserting that these things were true. 10 When the governor motioned for Paul to speak, he replied:
“Since I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I am pleased to present my defense. 11 You can verify for yourself that I went up to worship in Jerusalem no more than twelve days ago. 12 They never found me debating with anyone in the Temple or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or throughout the city, 13 and they cannot prove to you the charges they are now bringing against me. 14 However, I admit to you that in accordance with the Way, which they call a heresy,[e] I worship the God of our ancestors and believe in everything written in the Law and the Prophets. 15 I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish—that there is to be a resurrection of the righteous and the wicked. 16 Therefore, I always do my best to have a clear conscience before God and people. 17 After many years, I have come back to my people to bring gifts for the poor and to offer sacrifices. 18 They found me in the Temple doing these things just as I had completed the purification ceremony. No crowd or noisy mob was present. 19 But some Jews from Asia were there, and they should be here before you to accuse me if they have anything against me. 20 Otherwise, these men themselves should tell what wrong they found when I stood before the Council[f]— 21 unless it is for the one thing I shouted as I stood among them: ‘It is for the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’”
22 Felix was rather well informed about the Way, and so he adjourned the trial with the comment, “When Tribune Lysias arrives, I’ll decide your case.” 23 He ordered the centurion to guard Paul[g] but to let him have some freedom and not to keep any of his friends from caring for his needs.
24 Some days later, Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him talk about faith in Jesus[h] the Messiah.[i] 25 As Paul[j] talked about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became afraid and said, “For the present you may go. When I get a chance, I will send for you again.” 26 At the same time he was hoping to receive a bribe from Paul, and so he would send for him frequently to talk with him.
27 After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. Since Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.
Paul Appeals to the Emperor
25 Three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. 2 The high priests and Jewish leaders informed him of their charges against Paul, urging 3 and asking Festus[k] to have Paul[l] brought to Jerusalem as a favor. They were laying an ambush to kill him on the road.
4 Festus replied that Paul was being kept in custody at Caesarea and that he himself would be going there soon. 5 “Therefore,” he said, “have your authorities come down with me and present their charges against him there, if there is anything wrong with the man.”
6 Festus[m] 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[n] arrived, the Jewish leaders[o] 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[p] 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,[q] 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!”
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[r] 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.”
23 The next day, Agrippa and Bernice arrived with much fanfare and went into the auditorium along with the tribunes and the leading men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. 24 Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all you men who are present with us! You see this man about whom the whole Jewish nation petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. 25 I find that he has not done anything deserving of death. But since he has appealed to his Majesty, I have decided to send him. 26 I have nothing reliable to write our Sovereign about him, so I have brought him to all of you, and especially to you, King Agrippa, so that I will have something to write after he is cross-examined. 27 For it seems to me absurd to send a prisoner without specifying the charges against him.”
Paul Presents His Case to Agrippa
26 Then Agrippa told Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” So Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense.
2 “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, that I can defend myself today against all the accusations of the Jewish leaders,[s] 3 since you are especially familiar with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I beg you, therefore, to listen patiently to me. 4 All the Jews know how I lived from the earliest days of my youth with my own people and in Jerusalem. 5 They have known for a long time, if they would but testify to it, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the standards of our strictest religious party.
6 “And now I stand here on trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our ancestors. 7 Our twelve tribes, worshiping day and night with intense devotion, hope to attain it. It is because of this hope, O King, that I am accused by the Jews. 8 Why is it thought incredible by all of you that God should raise the dead? 9 Indeed, I myself thought it my duty to take extreme measures against the name of Jesus from Nazareth.[t] 10 That is what I did in Jerusalem. I received authority from the high priests and locked many of the saints in prison. And when I cast my vote against them, they were put to death. 11 I would even punish them frequently in every synagogue and try to make them blaspheme. Raging furiously against them, I would hunt them down even in distant cities.
12 “That is how I happened to be traveling to Damascus with authority based on a commission from the high priests. 13 On the road at noon, O King, I saw a light from heaven that was brighter than the sun. It flashed around me and those who were traveling with me.
14 “All of us fell to the ground, and I heard a voice asking me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me? It is hurting you to keep on kicking against the cattle prods.’[u]
15 “I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’[v]
“The Lord answered, ‘I’m Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 But get up and stand on your feet, because I’ve appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you to be my servant and witness of what you’ve seen and of what I’ll show you. 17 I’ll continue to rescue you from your people and from the gentiles to whom I’m sending you. 18 You will help them understand[w] and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan’s control to God, so that their sins will be forgiven and they will receive a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19 “And so, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. 20 Instead, I first told the people in Damascus and Jerusalem, then all the people in Judea—and after that the gentiles—to repent, turn to God, and perform deeds that are consistent with such repentance. 21 For this reason the Jewish leaders[x] grabbed me in the Temple and kept trying to kill me. 22 I’ve had help from God to this day, and so I stand here to testify to both the powerful and the lowly alike, stating only what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23 that the Messiah[y] would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead and would bring light both to our people and to the gentiles.”
24 As he continued his defense, Festus shouted, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much education is driving you crazy!”
25 But Paul said, “I’m not out of my mind, Your Excellency Festus. I’m reporting what is absolutely true. 26 Indeed, the king knows about these things, and I can speak to him freely. For I’m certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this wasn’t done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe them!”
28 Agrippa asked Paul, “Can you so quickly persuade me to become a Christian?”
29 Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I wish to God that not only you but everyone listening to me today would become what I am—except for these chains!”
30 Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and those who were sitting with him got up. 31 As they were leaving, they began to say to each other, “This man hasn’t been doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”
32 Agrippa told Festus, “This man could have been set free if he hadn’t appealed to the emperor.”
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