Acts:23

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* Paul looked at the members of the court and said , My brothers , I have done what I thought God wanted me to do , right up to this day . * Ananias , the high priest , said to those who were standing near Paul , Hit his mouth ! * Paul said , God will hit you down , you dirty wall painted white ! You sit there to judge me by the law and you break the law by telling them to hit me . * The people who stood near Paul said , Do you say a wrong thing like that to Gods high priest ? * Paul said , I did not know that he is a high priest . The holy writings say , "You shall not say anything wrong about a ruler of your people ." * Paul knew that some of the men were from the Sadducee group and some of them were from the Pharisee group . So he called out in the court , My brothers , I am a Pharisee . My fathers were Pharisees . I am being judged because I believe that the dead will be raised to life again . * When he had said that , the Pharisees and the Sadducees began to talk back and forth . The men in the court were divided . * The Sadducees say the dead will not be raised again . They say there is no angel or spirit . But the Pharisees believe in all these three things . * There was much shouting . Some of the clever men who were Pharisees got up . They said , We do not think this man has done wrong . Perhaps some angel or spirit really did speak to him . * The people started fighting . The commanding officer was afraid they would tear Paul into pieces . So he told the soldiers to take Paul and bring him into the army house . * The next night the Lord stood beside Paul . He said , Be glad , Paul . You have told people about me in Jerusalem . You must also talk about me in Rome . * In the morning , some of the Jewish leaders planned together . They made a promise that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul . * There were more than forty Jews who made this secret plan together . * They came to the chief priests and leaders and said , We have made a promise for ourselves . We will not eat anything until we have killed Paul . * So now , you and the members of the court send word to the commanding officer . Tell him to bring Paul down to you . Make him think you want to find out more about Paul . We will be ready to kill him before he gets there . * The son of Pauls sister heard about their secret plan . So he went into the army house and told Paul . * Paul called one of the officers and said to him , Take this young man to the commanding officer . He has something to tell him ! * So the officer took him to the commanding officer . He said , Paul , the prisoner , called me . He asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you . * The officer took the young man by the arm . He went to one side so they could be alone . He asked , What do you want to tell me ? * The young man said , The leaders of the Jews have made a plan . They will ask you to bring Paul down to court tomorrow . They will say that they wish to find out more about him . * But you must not do this . More than forty Jews are waiting for him . They have made a promise to themselves . They will not eat or drink until they have killed him . They are ready now and waiting for your agreement . * So the commanding officer sent the young man away . He said , You must not tell anyone that you have told me about these things . * The commanding officer called two officers to him . He said , Get two hundred soldiers ready by nine oclock tonight to go to Caesarea . Send seventy men with them who will ride on horses and two hundred men who will carry spears . * Also have horses ready for Paul to ride . Take him safely to Felix , the ruler . * The officer wrote a letter to Felix like this : * Claudius Lysias sends greetings to you , great ruler Felix . * This man was caught by the Jews . They were ready to kill him . But I came with my soldiers and took him away , because I found out that he is a Roman . * I wanted to find out what complaint they had against him , so I brought him into their court . * I found out that their complaints were to do with their law . But he had not done anything wrong enough to die or to be put into prison . * When I heard that the Jewish leaders were planning to catch him , I sent him to you at once . I told those who are making complaints against him that they must bring the matter to you . * So the soldiers took Paul as they had been told to do . They went with him that night as far as the town of Antipatris . * The next day the soldiers went back to the barracks . Only the men who were riding horses went with Paul . * When they reached Caesarea , they gave the letter to the ruler and brought Paul to him . * He read the letter . Then he asked Paul what country he came from . He heard that Paul was from Cilicia . Then he said , I will hear all you have to say when the men who have made the complaint come here . He ordered Paul to be kept in the house which is called Herods palace . * missing fehlt /missing

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