Chapter 25

1Festus arrived in the province and took charge. Three days later, he went from Caesarea up to Jerusalem.

2The chief priests and other Jewish leaders brought their case against Paul before Festus. They urged him

3to do them a favor by having Paul brought to Jerusalem. They were planning to ambush and kill him along the way.

4Festus answered that Paul was being held in Caesarea and that he himself would soon be returning there.

5He said, “Let the leaders among you come down with me. If this man has done anything wrong, they can bring charges against him.”

6After spending no more than eight or ten days with them, Festus returned to Caesarea. The next day, he took his seat in court and ordered Paul to be brought in.

7When Paul entered, the Jewish leaders who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him. They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove any of them.

8Paul defended himself: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law, the Temple, or the emperor.”

9Festus wanted to gain favor with the Jewish leaders, so he asked Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried there before me on these charges?”

10Paul answered, “I am standing before the emperor’s court, where I must be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jewish people, as you yourself know very well.

11Paul continued, “If I am guilty and have done something deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is no truth to their accusations, no one can hand me over to them as a favor. I appeal to the emperor.”

12After Festus consulted with his advisers, he replied, “You have appealed to the emperor. To the emperor you will go.”

13Several days later, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.

14Since they stayed there for several days, Festus presented Paul’s case to the king. He said, “There is a man here whom Felix left in custody.

15Festus continued, “When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and Jewish elders brought charges against him and asked me to condemn him.

16“I answered that Romans do not hand over an accused person as a favor before he has faced his accusers and had an opportunity to defend himself against the charge.

17“So when they came here, I did not delay. The very next day, I took my seat in court and ordered the man to be brought in.

18“But when his accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected.

19“Instead, they had certain disagreements with him about their own religion and about a man named Jesus who had died but whom Paul kept saying was alive.

20“I did not know how to investigate questions like these, so I asked Paul whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these matters.

21“But Paul appealed to be kept in custody until the emperor himself could decide his case. So I ordered him held until I could send him to the emperor.”

22Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.” Festus replied, “You will hear him tomorrow.”

23The next day, Agrippa and Bernice arrived with great ceremony. They entered the hearing hall with senior Roman army officers and the city’s leading men. At Festus’s command, Paul was brought in.

24Festus said, “King Agrippa and everyone here with us, you see this man. Large numbers of Jewish people, both in Jerusalem and here, have appealed to me about him, shouting that he should no longer be allowed to live.

25Festus continued, “But I found that he had done nothing deserving death. Since he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to send him.

26“Yet I have nothing definite to write to the emperor about him. That is why I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa. After this examination, perhaps I will have something to write.

27“It seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without also stating the charges against him.”