Acts 25-26

Acts 25

¹Festus, therefore, having come into the province, after three days went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea,

²and the chief priest and the principal men of the Jews made manifest to him the things against Paul, and were calling on him,

³asking favour against him, that he may send for him to Jerusalem, making an ambush to put him to death in the way.

⁴Then, indeed, Festus answered that Paul is kept in Caesarea, and himself is about speedily to go on thither,

⁵‘Therefore those able among you -- saith he -- having come down together, if there be anything in this man -- let them accuse him;'

⁶and having tarried among them more than ten days, having gone down to Caesarea, on the morrow having sat upon the tribunal, he commanded Paul to be brought;

⁷and he having come, there stood round about the Jews who have come down from Jerusalem -- many and weighty charges they are bringing against Paul, which they were not able to prove,

⁸he making defence -- ‘Neither in regard to the law of the Jews, nor in regard to the temple, nor in regard to Caesar -- did I commit any sin.'

⁹And Festus willing to lay on the Jews a favour, answering Paul, said, ‘Art thou willing, to Jerusalem having gone up, there concerning these things to be judged before me?'

¹⁰and Paul said, ‘At the tribunal of Caesar I am standing, where it behoveth me to be judged; to Jews I did no unrighteousness, as thou dost also very well know;

¹¹for if indeed I am unrighteous, and anything worthy of death have done, I deprecate not to die; and if there is none of the things of which these accuse me, no one is able to make a favour of me to them; to Caesar I appeal!'

¹²then Festus, having communed with the council, answered, ‘To Caesar thou hast appealed; to Caesar thou shalt go.'

¹³And certain days having passed, Agrippa the king, and Bernice, came down to Caesarea saluting Festus,

¹⁴and as they were continuing there more days, Festus submitted to the king the things concerning Paul, saying, ‘There is a certain man, left by Felix, a prisoner,

¹⁵about whom, in my being at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid information, asking a decision against him,

¹⁶unto whom I answered, that it is not a custom of Romans to make a favour of any man to die, before that he who is accused may have the accusers face to face, and may receive place of defence in regard to the charge laid against him.

¹⁷‘They, therefore, having come together -- I, making no delay, on the succeeding day having sat upon the tribunal, did command the man to be brought,

¹⁸concerning whom the accusers, having stood up, were bringing against him no accusation of the things I was thinking of,

¹⁹but certain questions concerning their own religion they had against him, and concerning a certain Jesus who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive;

²⁰and I, doubting in regard to the question concerning this, said, If he would wish to go on to Jerusalem, and there to be judged concerning these things --

²¹but Paul having appealed to be kept to the hearing of Sebastus, I did command him to be kept till I might send him unto Caesar.'

²²And Agrippa said unto Festus, ‘I was wishing also myself to hear the man;' and he said, ‘To-morrow thou shalt hear him;'

²³on the morrow, therefore -- on the coming of Agrippa and Bernice with much display, and they having entered into the audience chamber, with the chief captains also, and the principal men of the city, and Festus having ordered -- Paul was brought forth.

²⁴And Festus said, ‘King Agrippa, and all men who are present with us, ye see this one, about whom all the multitude of the Jews did deal with me, both in Jerusalem and here, crying out, He ought not to live any longer;

²⁵and I, having found him to have done nothing worthy of death, and he also himself having appealed to Sebastus, I decided to send him,

²⁶concerning whom I have no certain thing to write to my lord, wherefore I brought him forth before you, and specially before thee, king Agrippa, that the examination having been made, I may have something to write;

²⁷for it doth seem to me irrational, sending a prisoner, not also to signify the charges against him.'

Acts 26

¹And Agrippa said unto Paul, ‘It is permitted to thee to speak for thyself;' then Paul having stretched forth the hand, was making a defence:

²‘Concerning all things of which I am accused by Jews, king Agrippa, I have thought myself happy, being about to make a defence before thee to-day,

³especially knowing thee to be acquainted with all things -- both customs and questions -- among Jews; wherefore, I beseech thee, patiently to hear me.

⁴‘The manner of my life then, indeed, from youth -- which from the beginning was among my nation, in Jerusalem -- know do all the Jews,

⁵knowing me before from the first, (if they may be willing to testify,) that after the most exact sect of our worship, I lived a Pharisee;

⁶and now for the hope of the promise made to the fathers by God, I have stood judged,

⁷to which our twelve tribes, intently night and day serving, do hope to come, concerning which hope I am accused, king Agrippa, by the Jews;

⁸why is it judged incredible with you, if God doth raise the dead?

⁹‘I, indeed, therefore, thought with myself, that against the name of Jesus of Nazareth it behoved me many things to do,

¹⁰which also I did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I in prison did shut up, from the chief priests having received the authority; they also being put to death, I gave my vote against them,

¹¹and in every synagogue, often punishing them, I was constraining them to speak evil, being also exceedingly mad against them, I was also persecuting them even unto strange cities.

¹²‘In which things, also, going on to Damascus -- with authority and commission from the chief priests --

¹³at mid-day, I saw in the way, O king, out of heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me a light -- and those going on with me;

¹⁴and we all having fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute? hard for thee against pricks to kick!

¹⁵‘And I said, Who art thou, Lord? and he said, I am Jesus whom thou dost persecute;

¹⁶but rise, and stand upon thy feet, for for this I appeared to thee, to appoint thee an officer and a witness both of the things thou didst see, and of the things in which I will appear to thee,

¹⁷delivering thee from the people, and the nations, to whom now I send thee,

¹⁸to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the authority of the Adversary unto God, for their receiving forgiveness of sins, and a lot among those having been sanctified, by faith that is toward me.

¹⁹‘Whereupon, king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem, to all the region also of Judea, and to the nations, I was preaching to reform, and to turn back unto God, doing works worthy of reformation;

²¹because of these things the Jews -- having caught me in the temple -- were endeavouring to kill me.

²²‘Having obtained, therefore, help from God, till this day, I have stood witnessing both to small and to great, saying nothing besides the things that both the prophets and Moses spake of as about to come,

²³that the Christ is to suffer, whether first by a rising from the dead, he is about to proclaim light to the people and to the nations.'

²⁴And, he thus making a defence, Festus with a loud voice said, ‘Thou art mad, Paul; much learning doth turn thee mad;'

²⁵and he saith, ‘I am not mad, most noble Festus, but of truth and soberness the sayings I speak forth;

²⁶for the king doth know concerning these things, before whom also I speak boldly, for none of these things, I am persuaded, are hidden from him; for this thing hath not been done in a corner;

²⁷thou dost believe, king Agrippa, the prophets? I have known that thou dost believe!'

²⁸And Agrippa said unto Paul, ‘In a little thou dost persuade me to become a Christian!'

²⁹and Paul said, ‘I would have wished to God, both in a little, and in much, not only thee, but also all those hearing me to-day, to become such as I also am -- except these bonds.'

³⁰And, he having spoken these things, the king rose up, and the governor, Bernice also, and those sitting with them,

³¹and having withdrawn, they were speaking unto one another, saying -- ‘This man doth nothing worthy of death or of bonds;'

³²and Agrippa said to Festus, ‘This man might have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.'