Acts 25:1–26:32
Paul’s Trial in Front of Festus
Three
days after Festus arrived, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem . There the chief priests and Jewish
leaders came to him and brought their charges against Paul. They tried to get
Festus to have Paul taken to Jerusalem. They asked for this as a favor. They
were planning to hide and attack Paul along the way. They wanted to kill him.
Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea. Soon I’ll be going there
myself. Let some of your leaders come with me. If the man has done anything
wrong, they can bring charges against him there.”
Festus
spent eight or ten days in Jerusalem with them. Then he went down to Caesarea.
The next day he called the court together. He ordered Paul to be brought to
him. When Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around
him. They brought many strong charges against him.
But
they couldn’t prove them. Then Paul spoke up for himself. He said, “I’ve done
nothing wrong against the law of the Jews or against the temple. I’ve done nothing
wrong against Caesar.”
But
Festus wanted to do the Jews a favor. So he said to Paul, “Are you willing to
go up to Jerusalem? Are you willing to go on trial there? Are you willing to
face these charges in my court?”
Paul
answered, “I’m already standing in Caesar’s court. This is where I should go on
trial. I haven’t done anything wrong to the Jews. You yourself know that very
well. If I am guilty of anything worthy of death, I’m willing to die. But the
charges brought against me by these Jews are not true. No one has the right to
hand me over to them. I make my appeal to Caesar!”
Festus
talked it over with the members of his court. Then he said, “You have made an
appeal to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!”
Festus Talks With King Agrippa
A
few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea. They came to pay a
visit to Festus. They were spending many days there. So Festus talked with the
king about Paul’s case. He said, “There’s a man here that Felix left as a
prisoner. When I went to Jerusalem, the Jewish chief priests and the elders
brought charges against the man. They wanted him to be found guilty.
“I
told them that this is not the way Romans do things. We don’t judge people
before they have faced those bringing charges against them. They must have a
chance to speak up for themselves. When the Jews came back with me, I didn’t
waste any time. I called the court together the next day. I ordered the man to
be brought in. Those bringing charges against him got up to speak. But they
didn’t charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. Instead, they argued
with him about their own beliefs. They didn’t agree about a dead man named
Jesus. Paul claimed Jesus was alive.
“I
had no idea how to look into such matters. So I asked Paul if he would be
willing to go to Jerusalem. There he could be tried on these charges. But Paul
made an appeal to have the Emperor decide his case. So I ordered him to be held
until I could send him to Caesar.”
Then
Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man myself.”
Festus
replied, “Tomorrow you will hear him.”
Paul Speaks to Agrippa
The
next day Agrippa and Bernice arrived. They acted like very important people.
They entered the courtroom. The most important officers and the leading men of
the city came with them. When Festus gave the command, Paul was brought in.
Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all who are here with us, take a good look at
this man! Both in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea a large number of Jews have
come to me about him. They keep shouting that he shouldn’t live any longer. I
have found that he hasn’t done anything worthy of death. But he made is appeal
to the Emperor. So I decided to send him to Rome.
“I
don’t have anything certain to write about him to His Majesty. So I have brought
him here today. Now all of you will be able to hear him. King Agrippa, it will
also be very good for you to hear him. As a result of this hearing, I will have
something to write. It doesn’t make sense to send a prisoner to Rome without
listing the charges against him.”
Agrippa
said to Paul, “You may now speak for yourself.”
So
Paul motioned with his hand. Then he began to stand up for himself. “King
Agrippa,” he said, “I am happy to be able to stand here today. I will speak up
for myself against all the charges brought by the Jews. I am very pleased that
you are familiar with Jewish ways. You know the kinds of things they argue
about. So I beg you to be patient as you listen to me.
“The
Jews all know how I have lived ever since I was a child. They know all about me
from the beginning of my life. They know how I lived in my own country and in
Jerusalem. They have known me for a long time. So if they wanted to, they could
give witness that I lived by the rules of the Pharisees. Those rules are harder
to obey than the rules of any other group in the Jewish faith.
“Today
I am on trial because of the hope I have. I believe in what God promised our
people long ago. It is the promise that our 12 tribes are hoping to see come
true. Because of this hope they serve God with a true and honest heart day and
night. King Agrippa, it is also because of this hope that the Jews are bringing
charges against me. Why should any of you think it is impossible for God to
raise the dead?
“I
myself believed that I should do everything I could to oppose the name of Jesus
of Nazareth. That’s just what I was doing in Jerusalem. On the authority of the
chief priests, I put many of God’s people in prison. I agreed that they should
die. I often went from one synagogue to another to have them punished. I tried
to force them to speak evil things against Jesus. I hated them so much that I
even went to cities in other lands to hurt them.
“On
one of these journeys I was on my way to Damascus. I had the authority and
commission of the chief priests. About noon, King Agrippa, I was on the road. I
saw a light coming from heaven. It was brighter than the sun. It was shining
around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground. I heard a voice speak
to me in the Aramaic language. ‘Saul! Saul!’ it said. ‘Why are you opposing me?
It is hard for you to go against what you know is right.’
“Then
I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
”
‘I am Jesus,’ the Lord replied. ‘I am the one you are opposing. Now get up.
Stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you to serve me and be my
witness. You will tell others that you have seen me today. You will also tell
them that I will show myself to you again.
“
‘I will save you from your own people and from those who aren’t Jews. I am
sending you to them to open their eyes. I want you to turn them from darkness
to light. I want you to turn them from Satan’s power to God. I want their sins
to be forgiven. They will be forgiven when they believe in me. They will have
their place among God’s people.’
“So
then, King Agrippa, I obeyed the vision that appeared from heaven. First I
preached to people in Damascus. Then I preached in Jerusalem and in all Judea.
I preached also to people who are not Jews. I told them to turn away from their
sins to God. The way they live must prove that they have turned away from their
sins. That’s why the Jews grabbed me in the temple courtyard and tried to
“But
God has helped me to this very day. So I stand here and give witness to both
small and great. I have been saying nothing different from what the prophets
and Moses said would happen. They said the Christ would suffer. He would be the
first to rise from the dead. He would announce the light of life to his own
people and to those who aren’t Jews.”
While
Paul was still speaking up for himself, Festus interrupted. “You are out of
your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you crazy!”
“I
am not crazy, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true
and reasonable. The king is familiar with these things. So I can speak openly
to him. I am certain he knows everything that has been going on. After all, it
was not done in secret. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know
Then
Agrippa spoke to Paul. “Are you trying to talk me into becoming a Christian?”
he said. “Do you think you can do that in such a short time?”
Paul
replied, “I don’t care if it takes a short time or a long time. I pray to God
for you and all who are listening to me today. I pray that you may become like
me, except for these chains.”
The
king stood up. The governor and Bernice and those sitting with them stood up
too. They left the room and began to talk with one another. “Why should this
man die or be put in prison?” they said. “He has done nothing worthy of that!”
Agrippa
said to Festus, “This man could have been set free. But he has made an appeal
to Caesar.” (NIRV)
This reading is taken from 30 Scripture
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