﻿Acts.
Chapter 25.
Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. 
The chief priests and the leading men of the Jews presented charges against Paul to him and pleaded with him, 
asking as a favor against Paul that he summon him to Jerusalem. They were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. 
Festus answered that Paul was being kept in custody in Caesarea and that he himself would be leaving shortly. 
“So let those in authority among you go down with me,” he said, “and if there is anything wrong in the man, let them accuse him.” 
After staying among them no more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. The next day he sat on the judgment seat and ordered Paul to be brought in. 
When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they could not prove. 
Paul said in his defense, “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews, against the temple, or against Caesar.” 
But Festus, wanting to gain favor with the Jews, answered Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried there before me on these matters?” 
Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be tried. I have done the Jews no wrong, as you yourself know very well. 
If I am doing wrong and have done anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can hand me over to them as a favor. I appeal to Caesar!” 
Then Festus, after conferring with his council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go.” 
After some days King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and greeted Festus. 
As they were staying there for several days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man whom Felix left as a prisoner. 
When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews presented charges against him and asked for his condemnation. 
I answered them that it is not Roman custom to hand anyone over as a favor before the accused has faced his accusers and had an opportunity to defend himself against the charge. 
So when they came together here, I made no delay. The next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought in. 
When his accusers stood up, they brought no charge of the crimes I had suspected. 
Instead, they had certain disputes with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died, whom Paul asserted to be alive. 
I was at a loss how to investigate these matters, so I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on them. 
But when Paul appealed to be kept in custody for the emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.” 
Agrippa said to Festus, “I too would like to hear the man myself.” He said, “Tomorrow you will hear him.” 
The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience hall with the military commanders and prominent men of the city. At Festus’s command, Paul was brought in. 
Festus said, “King Agrippa and all you men here with us, you see this man, about whom the whole multitude of the Jews appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. 
But I found that he had done nothing deserving death, and since he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to send him. 
I have nothing certain to write to the sovereign about him. So I have brought him before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination I may have something to write. 
For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without also specifying the charges against him.” 
