Acts 25

¹ Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

² There the chief priests and the Jewish leaders presented their charges against Paul. They urged Festus

³ and requested, as a favor against Paul, that he have him transferred to Jerusalem; for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.

⁴ Festus answered that Paul was being held at Caesarea and that he himself was about to go there shortly.

⁵ "So let some of your leaders come down with me," he said, "and if there is anything wrong with the man, let them bring charges against him."

⁶ After spending eight or ten days among them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court and ordered Paul to be brought in.

⁷ When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges against him, which they could not prove.

⁸ Then Paul made his defense: "I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar."

⁹ Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?"

¹⁰ Paul answered: "I am now standing before Caesar's court, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well.

¹¹ If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is no truth in the charges these people bring against me, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!"

¹² After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: "You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!"

¹³ A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.

¹⁴ Since they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul's case before the king. He said: "There is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner.

¹⁵ When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked for a judgment against him.

¹⁶ I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had a chance to defend themselves against the charges.

¹⁷ When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in.

¹⁸ When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected.

¹⁹ Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus whom Paul claimed was alive.

²⁰ I was at a loss how to investigate such matters, so I asked if he was willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges.

²¹ But when Paul appealed to be held over for the decision of the Emperor, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar."

²² Then Agrippa said to Festus, "I would like to hear this man myself." "Tomorrow," he replied, "you will hear him."

²³ The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience hall with the high-ranking officers and the leading men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.

²⁴ Festus said: "King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

²⁵ I found he had done nothing deserving death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome.

²⁶ But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. So I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write.

²⁷ For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without specifying the charges against him."