Acts:23

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* And Paul looking earnestly upon the council , said : Brethren ! I have ordered my life in all good conscience before God to this day . * And the high –priest , Ananias , commanded those who stood by him to smite him on the mouth . * Then Paul said to him , God will smite thee , thou whited wall ! Art thou then sitting to judge me according to the law , and dost thou command me to be smitten contrary to the law ? * And they that stood by said , Dost thou revile God ’s high –priest ? * Then said Paul , I knew not , brethren , that he was high –priest ; for it is written , "Thou shalt not speak evil of a ruler of thy people ." * But Paul , perceiving one part to be Sadducees , and the other Pharisees , cried aloud in the council , Brethren ! I am a Pharisee , the son of Pharisees ; for the hope of the resurrection of the dead I am now tried . * And when he had said this , there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees ; and the multitude was divided . * For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection , and no angel or spirit ; but the Pharisees affirm both . * And there arose a great clamor ; and scribes of the party of the Pharisees arose , and contended , saying , We find nothing amiss in this man ; but if a spirit hath spoken to him or an angel –– * And a great dissension arising , the chief captain , fearing that Paul would be torn in pieces by them , ordered the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them , and bring him into the castle . * And the night following , the Lord stood by him , and said , Be of good courage ; for as thou hast borne witness concerning me in Jerusalem , so must thou bear witness also at Rome . * And when it was day , the Jews banded together , and bound themselves under a curse , saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul . * And there were more than forty who took this oath together . * And they came to the chief priests and the elders , and said , We have bound ourselves under a great curse , to taste nothing until we have killed Paul . * Now therefore do ye with the council give notice to the chief captain , that he bring him down to you , as though ye were about to examine his case more thoroughly ; and we are ready to kill him before he cometh near you . * But Paul ’s sister ’s son hearing of the plot went , and entering the castle , told Paul . * Then Paul called one of the centurions to him , and said , Take this young man to the chief captain ; for he hath something to tell him . * So he took him and brought him to the chief captain , and said , Paul the prisoner called me to him , and asked me to bring this young man to thee , as he hath something to say to thee . * Then the chief captain took him by the hand and went aside privately , and asked him , What is it that thou hast to tell me ? * And he said , The Jews have agreed to ask thee to bring down Paul tomorrow into the council , as though thou wert about to inquire more thoroughly concerning him . * But do not thou yield to them ; for there lie in wait for him more than forty men of them , who have bound themselves with an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him ; and they are now ready , looking for the promise from thee . * The chief captain then dismissed the young man with the charge , Tell no one that thou hast disclosed these things to me . * And he called to him two of the centurions , saying , Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea , and seventy horsemen , and two hundred spearmen , at the third hour of the night ; * and provide beasts , whereon they may set Paul , and carry him safe to Felix the governor . * And he wrote a letter after this manner : * Claudius Lysias to the moss excellent governor Felix , greeting . * This man was taken by the Jews , and was about to be killed by them ; but I came upon them with the soldiery , and rescued him , having learned that he was a Roman . * And wishing to know the crime of which they accused him , I brought him down to their council ; * but I found him to be accused only on account of questions of their law , and to have nothing laid to his charge deserving death or bonds . * And having been informed of a plot against the man , I sent him at once to thee , and directed his accusers also to bring their charges against him before thee . * Then the soldiers , as was commanded them , took Paul , and brought him by night to Antipatris . * But on the morrow they left the horsemen to go on with him , and returned to the castle . * And they , when they had come to Caesarea , and delivered the letter to the governor , presented Paul also before him . * And having read the letter , he asked of what province he was ; and when he understood that he was of Cilicia , * he said , I will hear thee fully , when thy accusers also have arrived . And he ordered him to be kept in Herod ’s palace .

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