Acts 23

23 ¹ Paul looked intently at the council and said, "Brothers, I have lived my life before our Father in all good conscience up to this day."

² The high priest Ananias ordered those standing near him to strike Paul on the mouth.

³ Then Paul said to him, "Our Father will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me by the law, and yet you violate the law by ordering me to be struck?"

⁴ Those standing nearby said, "Do you dare to insult our Father's high priest?"

⁵ Paul replied, "I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest; for it is written, 'You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'"

⁶ Now when Paul realized that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he cried out in the council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial over the hope and the resurrection of the dead!"

⁷ As he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, and neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. ⁹ A great uproar arose, and some of the scribes from the party of the Pharisees stood up and protested sharply, "We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel?" ¹⁰ When the dispute became violent, the commander, fearing that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹ The following night our Lord Jesus stood by him and said, "Take courage! For as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome."

A Plot Against Paul's Life

¹² When morning came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, declaring that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³ There were more than forty who had joined in this plot. ¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and elders and said, "We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ So now you and the council petition the commander to bring him down to you, as though you intend to examine his case more thoroughly. And we are ready to kill him before he gets here."

¹⁶ But the son of Paul's sister heard about the ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷ Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him."

¹⁸ So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, "The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you."

¹⁹ The commander took him by the hand, drew him aside privately, and asked, "What is it you have to tell me?"

²⁰ He said, "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him. ²¹ But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in wait for him. They have bound themselves under an oath neither to eat nor drink until they have killed him; and now they are ready, waiting for your consent."

²² So the commander dismissed the young man, ordering him, "Tell no one that you have reported this to me."

The Father Protects His Witness

²³ Then he called two of the centurions and said, "Get two hundred soldiers ready to go to Caesarea, along with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, by nine o'clock tonight." ²⁴ He also told them to provide mounts for Paul to ride, to bring him safely to Felix the governor. ²⁵ And he wrote a letter that read as follows:

²⁶ "Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency Governor Felix: Greetings.

²⁷ This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, when I came with my troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. ²⁸ Wanting to know the charge they were bringing against him, I brought him down to their council. ²⁹ I found that he was accused over questions about their own law, but there was no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment. ³⁰ When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also ordering his accusers to state their case against him before you."

³¹ So the soldiers, following their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. ³² The next day they let the horsemen go on with him while they returned to the barracks. ³³ When the horsemen came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and presented Paul to him as well. ³⁴ After reading the letter, the governor asked what province he was from, and learning that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered him to be kept under guard in Herod's headquarters.