Acts 25

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1. 1Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he traveled from Caesarea up to Jerusalem.
2. 2There the chief priests and Jewish leaders presented their case against Paul and urged Festus
3. 3to do them a favor by having Paul transferred to Jerusalem. They were planning an ambush to kill him along the road.
4. 4Festus replied that Paul was being held in Caesarea and that he himself would be returning there soon.
5. 5"Let your leaders come down with me," he said, "and if this man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there."
6. 6After spending more than ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The following day he took his seat at the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought in.
7. 7When Paul appeared, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought many serious charges against him, which they could not prove.
8. 8Paul defended himself, saying, "I have not committed any offense against the law of the Jews, against the temple, or against Caesar."
9. 9But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial on these charges before me there?"
10. 10Paul responded, "I am standing before Caesar's tribunal, which is where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you know very well.
11. 11If I am guilty or have done anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if none of their accusations are true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar."
12. 12After Festus conferred with his council, he answered, "You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you will go."
13. 13Some days later, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.
14. 14Since they were staying for many days, Festus brought up Paul's case with the king, saying, "There is a man here who was left as a prisoner by Felix.
15. 15When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a judgment against him.
16. 16I told them that it is not Roman practice to hand any man over before the accused has had a chance to face his accusers directly and defend himself against the charges.
17. 17So when they came here, I wasted no time. The very next day I took my seat at the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought in.
18. 18When his accusers stood up, they brought no charge of the kind of crimes I had expected.
19. 19Instead, they had certain disputes with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died, but whom Paul claimed was alive.
20. 20Since I was at a loss how to investigate such questions, I asked him whether he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these matters.
21. 21But when Paul had appealed to be reserved for the hearing before Augustus, I commanded him to be kept until I might send him to Caesar.
22. 22Agrippa said to Festus, "I would like to hear this man myself." "Tomorrow," Festus said, "you will hear him."
23. 23The next day Agrippa and Bernice arrived with great pomp and entered the hearing hall, accompanied by the military commanders and the prominent men of the city. At Festus's command, Paul was brought in.
24. 24Festus said, "King Agrippa and all who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole multitude of the Jews has appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, crying out that he ought not to live any longer."
25. 25But I found that he had done nothing deserving death. And since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.
26. 26However, I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this examination I may have something to write.
27. 27For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without also specifying the charges against him."