1 Festus then, having arrived in AActs 23:34the province, three days later went up to Jerusalem from BActs 8:40; 25:4, 6, 13Caesarea. 2 And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews AActs 24:1; 25:15brought charges against Paul, and they were urging him, 3 requesting a 1Or favorconcession against 2Lit himPaul, that he might 3Lit send for him to Jerusalemhave him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, AActs 9:24setting an ambush to kill him on the way). 4 Festus then AActs 25:16answered that Paul BActs 24:23was being kept in custody at CActs 8:40; 25:1, 6, 13Caesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly. 5 “Therefore,” he *said, “let the influential men among you 1Lit go downgo there with me, and if there is anything wrong 2Lit inabout the man, let them 3Or accuseprosecute him.”

6 After he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to AActs 8:40; 25:1, 4, 13Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on BMatt 27:19; Acts 25:10, 17the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. 7 After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing AActs 24:5fmany and serious charges against him BActs 24:13which they could not prove, 8 while Paul said in his own defense, “AActs 6:13; 24:12; 28:17I have committed no offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.” 9 But Festus, AActs 12:3; 24:27wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “BActs 25:20Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and 1Lit be judgedstand trial before me on these charges?” 10 But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s AMatt 27:19; Acts 25:6, 17tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. 11  “If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I AActs 25:21, 25; 26:32; 28:19appeal to Caesar.” 12 Then when Festus had conferred with 1A different group from that mentioned in Acts 4:15 and 24:20his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”

13 Now when several days had elapsed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at AActs 8:40; 25:1, 4, 6Caesarea 1Lit greeting Festusand paid their respects to Festus. 14 While they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man who was AActs 24:27left as a prisoner by Felix; 15 and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews AActs 24:1; 25:2brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. 16  “I AActs 25:4fanswered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before BActs 23:30the accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. 17  “So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on AMatt 27:19; Acts 25:6, 10the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought before me. 18  “When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, 19 but they simply had some AActs 18:15; 23:29points of disagreement with him about their own 1Or superstitionBActs 17:22religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. 20  “AActs 25:9Being at a loss how to investigate 1Lit thesesuch matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these matters. 21  “But when Paul AActs 25:11fappealed to be held in custody for 1Lit the Augustus’s (in this case Nero)the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.” 22 Then AActs 9:15Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he *said, “you shall hear him.”

23 So, on the next day when AActs 25:13; 26:30Agrippa came 1Lit and Bernicetogether with AActs 25:13; 26:30Bernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium 2Lit and withaccompanied by the 3I.e. chiliarchs, in command of one thousand troopscommanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. 24 Festus *said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom AActs 25:2, 7all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that BActs 22:22he ought not to live any longer. 25  “But I found that he had committed ALuke 23:4; Acts 23:29nothing worthy of death; and since he himself BActs 25:11fappealed to 1V 21, note 1the Emperor, I decided to send him. 26  “1Lit About whom I have nothing definiteYet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. 27  “For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.”