Acts:25

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* Three days after Festus entered his province , he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem . * The high priest and the Jewish leaders laid charges against Paul before him . * They urged him , asking it as a favor , to send for him to Jerusalem . They meant to lay in wait for him and kill him on the way . * But Festus answered that Paul was in custody at Caesarea , and that he himself was going there soon . * "Let those then ," he said , "who are in authority among you , go down with me , and if there is anything amiss in the man , let them accuse him ." * After staying not more than eight or ten days among them , he went down to Caesarea , and the next day , after taking his seat upon the tribunal , he ordered Paul to be brought . * When he came in , the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought a number of serious charges against him , which they could not prove . * Paul said in his defense , "I have committed no crime against the Law of the Jews , against the Temple , or against Caesar ." * But Festus , wishing to ingratiate himself with the Jews , answered Paul and said , "Will you go up to Jerusalem and be tried there by me upon these charges ?" * "I am standing before Caesars tribunal ," answered Paul , "where I ought to be tried . I have done no wrong to the Jews , as you very well know . * "If I am a criminal and have done anything for which I ought to die , I do not object to die . But if none of their charges is true , no man can give me up to them . I appeal to Caesar ." * Then Festus , after conferring with the council , answered . "You have appealed to Caesar ; to Caesar you shall go ." * A short time after this King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus . * And while they tarried many days , Festus laid Pauls case before the king . "There is a man here ," he said , "whom Felix left a prisoner . * "The chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him , when I was at Jerusalem , demanding a sentence against him . * I told them that it was not the custom of the Romans to give any man up for punishment , before the accused had his accusers face to face , and had opportunity of defending himself against the charges that had been brought against him . * "So when a number of them came together here , I made no delay , but the next day took my seat in the tribunal , and commanded the man to be brought . * "But when his accusers stood up , they did not begin charging him with any of the crimes that I was expecting , * but they kept quarreling with him about certain matters connected with their own religion , and about one Jesus who had died , but whom Paul affirmed over and over was alive . * I was perplexed how to investigate such questions , and asked Paul whether he would go to Jerusalem , and there be judged of these matters . * But when Paul appealed to have his case reviewed for the decision of the Emperor , I ordered him to be detained until I could send him up to Caesar ." * "I should like to hear the man , myself ," said Agrippa to Festus . Festus answered , "You shall hear him tomorrow ." * So the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp , and took their places in the hall of audience , accompanied by the tribunes and men of high rank in the city . At the command of Festus Paul was brought in . * "King Agrippa ," said Festus , "and all men who are present with us , you see here the man about whom the entire body of the Jews at Jerusalem , and here also , sent to me , crying out that he ought not to live any longer . * "I could not find that he had done anything for which he ought to die ; but as he himself has appealed to the Emperor , I have determined to send him . * "Now I have nothing very definite to tell our sovereign about him . So I have brought the man before you all , and especially before you , King Agrippa , in order that , after examination , I may have something to write . * "For it does seem to me unreasonable to send a person without signifying the charges against him ."

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