ActsChapter 23

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¹Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin. He said, "Brothers, I have lived my life before God with a clear conscience up to this day." ²When he said this, the high priest Ananias gave an order. He told the men standing near Paul to hit him on the mouth. ³Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me by the law. Yet you break the law yourself by ordering them to hit me!" ⁴The men standing nearby said, "How dare you insult God's high priest!" ⁵"Brothers," Paul answered, "I did not know he was the high priest. For it is written, 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.'" ⁶Paul knew that some of them were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees. So he called out in the Sanhedrin, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I am on trial because I hope that the dead will rise." ⁷As soon as he said this, the Pharisees and Sadducees began to argue. The group was split. ⁸For the Sadducees say that the dead do not rise. They say there are no angels or spirits. But the Pharisees believe in all of these. ⁹There was a great uproar. Some scribes who were Pharisees stood up. They argued hard. "We find nothing wrong with this man," they said. "What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?" ¹⁰The argument became so violent that the commander was afraid. He thought they would tear Paul to pieces. So he ordered the soldiers to go down and take Paul away from them by force. They were to bring him into the barracks. ¹¹The next night the Lord stood near Paul. He said, "Be brave! Just as you have told about me in Jerusalem, so you must tell about me in Rome too." ¹²In the morning the Jews made a secret plan. They made a promise with an oath. They would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³More than forty men were part of this plot. ¹⁴They went to the chief priests and elders. They said, "We have made a solemn oath. We will not eat anything until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵So you and the Sanhedrin must ask the commander to bring him down to you. Pretend you want to look into his case more closely. We are ready to kill him on the way." ¹⁶But the son of Paul's sister heard about the plot. He went into the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷Then Paul called one of the centurions. He said, "Take this young man to the commander. He has something to tell him." ¹⁸So the centurion took him to the commander. He said, "Paul the prisoner called me. He asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you." ¹⁹The commander took the young man by the hand. He led him off to one side and asked, "What do you need to tell me?" ²⁰He said, "The Jews have agreed to ask you a favor. They want you to bring Paul to the Sanhedrin tomorrow. They will pretend they want to learn more about him. ²¹Don't let them talk you into it, because more than forty men are hiding and waiting to attack him. They have made an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now. They are just waiting for you to say yes." ²²The commander sent the young man away. He told him, "Don't tell anyone that you told me this." ²³Then he called two of his centurions. He said, "Get two hundred soldiers ready to go to Caesarea at nine o'clock tonight. Also get seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen. ²⁴Have horses ready for Paul to ride. Take him safely to Governor Felix." ²⁵Then the commander wrote this letter: ²⁶From Claudius Lysias. To His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings. ²⁷The Jews grabbed this man and were about to kill him. But I came with my troops and saved him. For I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. ²⁸I wanted to know why they were accusing him. So I brought him to their Sanhedrin. ²⁹I found that the charges were about questions of their own law. But he had done nothing that deserved death or prison. ³⁰Then I was told about a plot against the man. So I sent him to you at once. I also ordered the men accusing him to bring their case against him to you. ³¹So the soldiers did as they were ordered. During the night they took Paul to Antipatris. ³²The next day the soldiers went back to the barracks. They let the horsemen go on with Paul. ³³The horsemen came to Caesarea. They gave the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. ³⁴The governor read the letter. He asked what province Paul was from. He learned that Paul was from Cilicia. ³⁵So he said, "I will hear your case when the men accusing you get here." Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod's palace.a