Acts 25 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

The chief priests and Jewish leaders brought their charges against Paul to Festus and urgently appealed to him,

asking him as a favor to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem — because they were setting up an ambush to kill him along the way.

But Festus replied that Paul was being held in Caesarea and that he himself would be going back there soon.

"Let your leaders come down with me," he said, "and if this man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there."

After spending no more than eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he took his seat on the judge's bench and ordered Paul brought before him.

When Paul appeared, the Jewish leaders who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, bringing many serious charges that they couldn't prove.

Paul defended himself: "I haven't committed any offense — not against Jewish law, not against the temple, and not against Caesar."

But Festus, wanting to do the Jewish leaders a favor, asked Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?"

Paul replied, "I'm standing before Caesar's court right now, which is exactly where I should be tried. I haven't done anything wrong to the Jewish people, as you know perfectly well."

If I'm guilty of anything deserving death, I'm not trying to avoid dying. But if none of their charges hold up, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!

After conferring with his council, Festus declared, "You've appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you will go."

A few days later, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.

Since they were staying for several days, Festus brought up Paul's case to the king. "There's a man here," he said, "who Felix left behind as a prisoner."

"When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and Jewish elders filed charges against him and demanded a guilty verdict."

"I told them that's not how Rome does things — we don't hand someone over for punishment before the accused has met his accusers face to face and had a chance to defend himself against the charges."

"So when they came here, I didn't waste any time. The very next day I took my seat on the bench and ordered the man brought in."

"But when his accusers stood up, they didn't charge him with any of the crimes I was expecting."

"Instead, they had some disagreements with him about their own religion and about some dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive."

"I had no idea how to investigate these kinds of questions, so I asked Paul if he'd be willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these matters."

But Paul appealed to have his case held over for the Emperor's decision. So I ordered him kept in custody until I could send him to Caesar.

Agrippa said to Festus, "I'd like to hear this man myself." "Tomorrow," Festus replied, "you'll hear him."

The next day Agrippa and Bernice arrived with a lot of fanfare and entered the audience hall, accompanied by high-ranking military officers and the city's prominent citizens. At Festus's command, Paul was brought in.

Festus said, "King Agrippa, and all of you here with us: This is the man that the entire Jewish community — both in Jerusalem and here — has been screaming about to me, insisting he shouldn't be allowed to live any longer."

"But I found that he hasn't done anything deserving death. And since he himself has appealed to the Emperor, I've decided to send him to Rome."

"The problem is, I don't have anything definitive to write to His Majesty about him. So I've brought him before all of you — and especially before you, King Agrippa — so that after we examine him, I'll have something to put in writing."

"Because it seems ridiculous to me to send a prisoner to Rome without clearly stating the charges against him."