Acts 25-26

Acts 25

¹So Festus, having come into that part of the country which was under his rule, after three days went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

²And the chief priests and the chief men of the Jews made statements against Paul,

³Requesting Festus to give effect to their design against him, and send him to Jerusalem, when they would be waiting to put him to death on the way.

⁴But Festus, in answer, said that Paul was being kept in prison at Caesarea, and that in a short time he himself was going there.

⁵So, he said, let those who have authority among you go with me, and if there is any wrong in the man, let them make a statement against him.

⁶And when he had been with them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea; and on the day after, he took his place on the judge's seat, and sent for Paul.

⁷And when he came, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem came round him, and made all sorts of serious statements against him, which were not supported by the facts.

⁸Then Paul, in his answer to them, said, I have done no wrong against the law of the Jews, or against the Temple, or against Caesar.

⁹But Festus, desiring to get the approval of the Jews, said to Paul, Will you go up to Jerusalem, and be judged before me there in connection with these things?

¹⁰And Paul said, I am before the seat of Caesar's authority where it is right for me to be judged: I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you are well able to see.

¹¹If, then, I am a wrongdoer and there is a cause of death in me, I am ready for death: if it is not as they say against me, no man may give me up to them. Let my cause come before Caesar.

¹²Then Festus, having had a discussion with the Jews, made answer, You have said, Let my cause come before Caesar; to Caesar you will go.

¹³Now when some days had gone by, King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea and went to see Festus.

¹⁴And as they were there for some days, Festus gave them Paul's story, saying, There is a certain man here who was put in prison by Felix:

¹⁵Against whom the chief priests and the rulers of the Jews made a statement when I was at Jerusalem, requesting me to give a decision against him.

¹⁶To whom I gave answer that it is not the Roman way to give a man up, till he has been face to face with those who are attacking him, and has had a chance to give an answer to the statements made against him.

¹⁷So, when they had come together here, straight away, on the day after, I took my place on the judge's seat and sent for the man.

¹⁸But when they got up they said nothing about such crimes as I had in mind:

¹⁹But had certain questions against him in connection with their religion, and about one Jesus, now dead, who, Paul said, was living.

²⁰And as I had not enough knowledge for the discussion of these things, I made the suggestion to him to go to Jerusalem and be judged there.

²¹But when Paul made a request that he might be judged by Caesar, I gave orders for him to be kept till I might send him to Caesar.

²²And Agrippa said to Festus, I have a desire to give the man a hearing myself. Tomorrow, he said, you may give him a hearing.

²³So on the day after, when Agrippa and Bernice in great glory had come into the public place of hearing, with the chief of the army and the chief men of the town, at the order of Festus, Paul was sent for.

²⁴And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all those who are present here with us, you see this man, about whom all the Jews have made protests to me, at Jerusalem and in this place, saying that it is not right for him to be living any longer.

²⁵But, in my opinion, there is no cause of death in him, and as he himself has made a request to be judged by Caesar, I have said that I would send him.

²⁶But I have no certain account of him to send to Caesar. So I have sent for him to come before you, and specially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the business has been gone into, I may have something to put in writing.

²⁷For it seems to me against reason to send a prisoner without making clear what there is against him.

Acts 26

¹And Agrippa said to Paul, You may put your cause before us. Then Paul, stretching out his hand, made his answer, saying:

²In my opinion I am happy, King Agrippa, to be able to give my answer before you today to all these things which the Jews say against me:

³The more so, because you are expert in all questions to do with the Jews and their ways: so I make my request to you to give me a hearing to the end.

⁴All the Jews have knowledge of my way of life from my early years, as it was from the start among my nation, and at Jerusalem;

⁵And they are able to say, if they would give witness, that I was living as a Pharisee, in that division of our religion which is most regular in the keeping of the law.

⁶And now I am here to be judged because of the hope given by God's word to our fathers;

⁷For the effecting of which our twelve tribes have been working and waiting night and day with all their hearts. And in connection with this hope I am attacked by the Jews, O king!

⁸Why, in your opinion, is it outside belief for God to make the dead come to life again?

⁹For I, truly, was of the opinion that it was right for me to do a number of things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And this I did in Jerusalem: and numbers of the saints I put in prison, having had authority given to me from the chief priests, and when they were put to death, I gave my decision against them.

¹¹And I gave them punishment frequently, in all the Synagogues, forcing them to say things against God; and burning with passion against them, I went after them even into far-away towns.

¹²Then, when I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and orders of the chief priests,

¹³In the middle of the day, on the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining round me and those who were journeying with me.

¹⁴And when we had all gone down on the earth, a voice came to me, saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me so cruelly? It is hard for you to go against the impulse which is driving you.

¹⁵And I said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are attacking.

¹⁶But get up on your feet: for I have come to you for this purpose, to make you a servant and a witness of the things in which you have seen me, and of those in which you will see me;

¹⁷And I will keep you safe from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,

¹⁸To make their eyes open, turning them from the dark to the light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may have forgiveness of sins and a heritage among those who are made holy by faith in me.

¹⁹So, then, King Agrippa, I did not go against the vision from heaven;

²⁰But I went about, first to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, and through all the country of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, preaching a change of heart, so that they, being turned to God, might give, in their works, the fruits of a changed heart.

²¹For this reason, the Jews took me in the Temple, and made an attempt to put me to death.

²²And so, by God's help, I am here today, witnessing to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come about;

²³That the Christ would go through pain, and being the first to come back from the dead, would give light to the people and to the Gentiles.

²⁴And when he made his answer in these words, Festus said in a loud voice, Paul, you are off your head; your great learning has made you unbalanced.

²⁵Then Paul said, I am not off my head, most noble Festus, but my words are true and wise.

²⁶For the king has knowledge of these things, to whom I am talking freely; being certain that all this is common knowledge to him; for it has not been done in secret.

²⁷King Agrippa, have you faith in the prophets? I am certain that you have.

²⁸And Agrippa said to Paul, A little more and you will be making me a Christian.

²⁹And Paul said, It is my prayer to God that, in little or great measure, not only you, but all those hearing me today might be even as I am, but for these chains.

³⁰And the king and the ruler and Bernice and those who were seated with them got up;

³¹And when they had gone away they said to one another, This man has done nothing which might give cause for death or prison.

³²And Agrippa said to Festus, This man might have been made free, if he had not put his cause before Caesar.