1 ARST So Paul looked at the Jewish council members and said,“My fellow Jews, throughout my life I have lived respecting our God. I do not know of anything that I have done that I knew was wrong.” BSB BSB: Paul looked directly at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have conducted myself before God in all good conscience to this day.”
2 ARST When Ananias the high priest heard what Paul said, he told the men who were standing near Paul to hit him on the mouth. BSB BSB: At this, the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.
3 ARST Then Paul said to Ananias,“God will punish you for that, you hypocrite! You sit there and judge me, using the laws that God gave Moses. But you yourself disobey those laws! You commanded those men to strike me without proving that I have done anything wrong!” BSB BSB: Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit here to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck.”
4 ARST But the men who were standing near Paul said to him,“You should not speak badly to God’ s high priest!” BSB BSB: But those standing nearby said, “How dare you insult the high priest of God!”
5 ARST Paul replied,“My fellow Jews,{ I am sorry that I said that.} I did not know that the man who told one of you to hit me was the high priest.{ If I had known that, I would not have talked badly about him.} I know that we can read in the Law of Moses,‘Do not speak badly about any of your leaders.’” BSB BSB: “Brothers,” Paul replied, “I was not aware that he was the high priest, for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”
6 ARST Now Paul knew that some of the council members were Sadducees and others were Pharisees. So he called out in the council hall,“My fellow Jews, I am a Pharisee. My ancestors have been Pharisees as well. You have put me on trial here because I am sure that one day God will cause those who have died to live again.” BSB BSB: Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. It is because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”
7 ARST And when he said that, the Pharisees and Sadducees started to argue with one another{ about whether people who have died will become alive again}. The two groups strongly disagreed with each other. BSB BSB: As soon as he had said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
8 ARST They disagreed so strongly because Sadducees do not believe that after people die, they will become alive again. They also do not believe that there are angels or other kinds of spirits. But Pharisees do believe those things. BSB BSB: For the Sadducees say that there is neither a resurrection nor angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
9 ARST Then both groups started shouting at one another as they argued. Some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up. One of them insisted,“We think that this man has done nothing wrong. We believe that an angel or some other spirit spoke to him.{ So we must all agree that he is innocent!}” BSB BSB: A great clamor arose, and some scribes from the party of the Pharisees got up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”
10 ARST Then the Pharisees and Sadducees became very violent with one another. The commander became concerned that they would hurt Paul badly. So he told soldiers to come down from the fortress into the temple courtyard. He told them to take Paul away from the council members and bring him up into the barracks. BSB BSB: The dispute grew so violent that the commander was afraid they would tear Paul to pieces. He ordered the soldiers to go down and remove him by force and bring him into the barracks.
11 ARST That night, Paul saw Jesus come and stand near him. Jesus said to him,“Be brave! You have told people here in Jerusalem about me. I will protect you so that you can tell people in Rome about me too.” BSB BSB: The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so also you must testify in Rome.”
12 ARST The next morning some of the Jews who hated Paul met and talked about how to kill him. To make sure that they killed him, they all promised that they would not eat or drink anything before they had killed Paul. They asked God to kill them if they did not do what they promised. BSB BSB: When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
13 ARST Now there were more than 40 men who agreed to kill Paul. BSB BSB: More than forty of them were involved in this plot.
14 ARST They went to the chief priests and Jewish elders and told them,“God has heard us promise that we will not eat or drink anything before we have killed Paul. BSB BSB: They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul.
15 ARST So to help us, we request that you go to the commander and ask him, on behalf of the whole Jewish council, to bring Paul down from the fortress to meet with you again. Tell the commander that you want to talk to Paul some more. We will be waiting to kill Paul while he is on the way here.” BSB BSB: Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him down to you on the pretext of examining his case more carefully. We are ready to kill him on the way.”
16 ARST But the son of Paul’ s sister heard what they were planning to do, so he went into the fortress and told Paul. BSB BSB: But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul.
17 ARST When Paul heard about the plan to kill him, he called one of the officers and said to him,“Please take this young man to the commander. He needs to tell him something.” BSB BSB: Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.”
18 ARST So the officer took Paul’ s nephew to the commander. The officer told the commander,“Paul, whom we are guarding here, asked to speak with me. He said,‘Please take this young man to the commander, because he needs to tell him something important.’” BSB BSB: So the centurion took him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner sent and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.”
19 ARST So the commander took Paul’ s nephew by the hand and led him off by himself. Then he asked him,“What do you have to tell me?” BSB BSB: The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside, and asked, “What do you need to tell me?”
20 ARST Then Paul’ s nephew replied,“There are some Jews who are going to ask you tomorrow to bring Paul down from the fortress to meet with their council again. They will say that they want to ask him some more questions.{ But that is not true.} BSB BSB: He answered, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul to the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of acquiring more information about him.
21 ARST So do not do what they ask you to do. There are actually more than 40 Jewish men who will be hiding and waiting to kill Paul when he passes by on his way to the council. They have even promised God that they will not eat or drink anything until they have killed Paul. They are ready to do it. They are just waiting for you to agree to do what they are asking.” BSB BSB: Do not let them persuade you, because more than forty men are waiting to ambush him. They have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him; they are ready now, awaiting your consent.”
22 ARST The commander warned Paul’ s nephew,“Do not tell anyone that you have told me about their plan.” Then he sent him away. BSB BSB: So the commander dismissed the young man and instructed him, “Do not tell anyone that you have reported this to me.”
23 ARST Then the commander called two of his officers and told them,“Get a group of 200 soldiers ready to travel. Take along 70 soldiers riding horses and 200 other soldiers carrying spears. All of you must be ready to leave at nine o’ clock tonight and go to the city of Caesarea. BSB BSB: Then he called two of his centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea in the third hour of the night.
24 ARST Take along horses for Paul to ride, and escort him to the palace of Governor Felix.” BSB BSB: Provide mounts for Paul to take him safely to Governor Felix.”
25 ARST Then the commander wrote a letter to send to the governor. This is what he wrote: BSB BSB: And he wrote the following letter:
26 ARST “Your Excellency, Governor Felix, this is Claudius Lysias writing to you. I send you my greetings. BSB BSB: Claudius Lysias, To His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings.
27 ARST I am sending you a man whose name is Paul. Certain Jews had seized him and were about to kill him. But I learned that he was a Roman citizen, so I and my soldiers went and rescued him. BSB BSB: This man was seized by the Jews, and they were about to kill him when I came with my troops to rescue him. For I had learned that he is a Roman citizen,
28 ARST I wanted to know what those Jews were saying that he had done wrong, so I took him to their Jewish council. BSB BSB: and since I wanted to understand their charges against him, I brought him down to their Sanhedrin.
29 ARST I listened while they asked this man questions and he answered them. The accusations they made against him had to do with their Jewish laws. But Paul has not disobeyed any of our Roman laws. So our officials should not execute him or even put him in prison. BSB BSB: I found that the accusation involved questions about their own law, but there was no charge worthy of death or imprisonment.
30 ARST Then someone told me that some Jews were planning to kill this man. So I sent him to you right away so that you could give him a fair trial there. I have also commanded the Jews who have accused him to go there to Caesarea and tell you why they are accusing him. Goodbye.” BSB BSB: When I was informed that there was a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also instructed his accusers to present their case against him before you.
31 ARST So the soldiers did what the commander told them. They got Paul and took him with them during the night to the city of Antipatris. BSB BSB: So the soldiers followed their orders and brought Paul by night to Antipatris.
32 ARST The next day, the foot soldiers returned to Jerusalem and the soldiers who rode horses continued traveling to Caesarea with Paul. BSB BSB: The next day they returned to the barracks and let the horsemen go on with him.
34 ARST So the governor read the letter. Then he asked Paul,“What province are you from?” Paul answered,“I am from Cilicia.” BSB BSB: The governor read the letter and asked what province Paul was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia,
35 ARST Then the governor said,“When the people who have accused you arrive, I will listen to what each of you says and then I will judge your case.” Then he commanded his soldiers to guard Paul in the palace that King Herod the Great had built. BSB BSB: he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s Praetorium.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.