24:16 This too is my own earnest endeavour--always to have aclear conscience in relation to God and man...

24:17 "Now after an interval of several years I came to bring
alms to my nation, and to offer sacrifices.
24:18 While I was busy about these, they found me in the Temple
purified, with no crowd around me and no uproar; but there were
certain Jews from the province of Asia.
24:19 They ought to have been here before you, and to have been
my prosecutors, if they have any charge to bring against me.
24:20 Or let these men themselves say what misdemeanour they
found me guilty of when I stood before the Sanhedrin,
24:21 unless it was in that one expression which I made use of
when I shouted out as I stood among them, "`The resurrection of
the dead is the thing about which I am on my trial before you
to-day.'"
24:22 At this point Felix, who was fairly well informed about
the new faith, adjourned the trial, saying to the Jews, "When
the Tribune Lysias comes down, I will enter carefully into the
matter."
24:23 And he gave orders to the Captain that Paul was to be kept
in custody, but be treated with indulgence, and that his
personal friends were not to be prevented from showing him
kindness.
24:24 Not long after this, Felix came with Drusilla his wife, a
Jewess, and sending for Paul, listened to him as he spoke about
faith in Christ Jesus.

24:25 But when he dealt with the subjects of justice, /1
self-control, and the judgement which was soon to come, Felix
became alarmed and said, "For the present leave me, and when I
can find a convenient opportunity I will send for you."
24:26 At the same time he hoped that Paul would give him money;
and for this reason he sent for him the oftener to converse
with him.
24:27 But after the lapse of fully two years Felix was succeeded
by Porcius Festus; and being desirous of gratifying the Jews,
Felix left Paul still /2 in prison.
25:1 Festus, having entered on his duties as governor of the
province, two days later went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
25:2 The High Priests and the leading men among the Jews
immediately made representations to him against Paul, and
begged him--
25:3 asking it as a favour, to Paul's prejudice--to have him
brought to Jerusalem. They were planning an ambush to kill him
on the way.
25:4 Festus, however, replied that Paul was in custody /3 in
Caesarea, and that he was himself going there very soon.
25:5 "Therefore let those of you," he said, "who can come, go
down with me, and impeach the man, if there is anything amiss
in him."
25:6 After a stay of eight or ten days in Jerusalem--not
more--he went down to Caesarea; and the next day, taking his
seat on the tribunal, he ordered Paul to be brought in.
25:7 Upon Paul's arrival, the Jews who had come down from
Jerusalem stood round him, and brought many grave charges
against him which they were unable to substantiate.
25:8 But, in reply, Paul said, "Neither against the Jewish Law,
nor against the Temple, nor against Caesar, have I committed
any offence whatever."
25:9 Then Festus, being anxious to gratify the Jews, asked Paul,
"Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem, and there /4 stand your
trial before me on these charges?"

25:10 "I am standing before Caesar's tribunal," replied Paul,
"where alone I ought to be tried. The Jews have no real ground
of complaint against me, as in fact you yourself are beginning
to see more clearly.
25:11 If, however, I have done wrong and have committed any
offence for which I deserve to die, I do not ask to be excused
that penalty. But if there is no truth in what these men allege
against me, no one has the right to give me up to them as a
favour. I appeal to Caesar."
25:12 Then, after conferring with the Council, Festus replied,
"To Caesar you have appealed: to Caesar you shall go."
25:13 A short time after this, Agrippa the king and Bernice came
to Caesarea to pay a complimentary visit to Festus;
25:14 and, during their rather long stay, Festus laid Paul's
case before the king. "There is a man here," he said, "whom
Felix left a prisoner,
25:15 about whom, when I went to Jerusalem, the High Priests and
the Elders of the Jews made representations to me, begging that
sentence might be pronounced against him.
25:16 My reply was that it is not the custom among the Romans to
give up any one for punishment before the accused has had his
accusers face to face, and has had an opportunity of defending
himself against the charge which has been brought against him.
25:17 "When, therefore, a number of them came here, the next day
I took my seat on the tribunal, without any loss of time, and
ordered the man to be brought in.
25:18 But, when his accusers stood up, they did not charge him
with the misdemeanours of which I had been suspecting him.
25:19 But they quarrelled with him about certain matters
connected with their own religion, and about one Jesus who had
died, but--so Paul persistently maintained--is now alive.
25:20 I was at a loss how to investigate such questions, and
asked Paul whether he would care to go to Jerusalem and there
stand his trial on these matters.
25:21 But when Paul appealed to have his case kept for the
Emperor's decision, I ordered him to be kept in prison until I
could send him up to Caesar."
25:22 "I should like to hear the man myself," said Agrippa.
"to-morrow," replied Festus, "you shall." Accordingly, the next
day, Agrippa and Bernice came in state
25:23 and took their seats in the Judgement Hall, attended by
the Tribunes and the men of high rank in the city; and, at the
command of Festus, Paul was brought in.

25:24 Then Festus said, "King Agrippa and all who are present
with us, you see here the man about whom the whole nation of
the Jews made suit to me, both in Jerusalem and here, crying
out that he ought not to live any longer.
25:25 I could not discover that he had done anything for which
he deserved to die; but as he has himself appealed to the
Emperor, I have decided to send him to Rome.
25:26 I have nothing very definite, however, to tell our
Sovereign about him. So I have brought the man before you
all--and especially before you, King Agrippa--that after he has
been examined I may find something which I can put into
writing.
25:27 For, when sending a prisoner to Rome, it seems to me to be
absurd not to state the charges against him."
26:1 Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak