¹Therefore Festus, when he had arrived in the province, after three days went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea,

²then the chief priests and the chiefs of the Jews made a presentation before him against Paul, and they were begging him,

³asking a favor against him, that he may summon him to Jerusalem, forming an ambush to kill him on the way.

⁴Therefore Festus indeed answered that Paul is to be kept in Caesarea, however he himself ensuing with speed to set out;

⁵therefore those among you in power, he says, having gone down too, if there is anything wrong in the man, they should accuse him.

⁶Then when he had spent among them not more than eight or ten days, he had gone down to Caesarea, on the next day had sat on the judgment seat, and commanded Paul to be brought.

⁷Then when he was arriving, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, presenting many and weighty charges concerning Paul which they were not able to prove,

⁸Paul presenting his defense, that Neither against the law of the Jews did I sin, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar in anything have I sinned.

⁹However Festus, wishing to lay a favor on the Jews, answered Paul and said: Are you willing, having gone up to Jerusalem, there to be judged before me concerning these things?

¹⁰Then Paul said: Standing before the judgment seat of Caesar I am, where it behooves me to be judged. To the Jews I have done no thing wrong, as you yourself also very well know;

¹¹therefore if indeed I do wrong and have done anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; however if there is no thing of which they can accuse me, no one can give me up to them. To Caesar I appeal!

¹²Then Festus, having conferred with the Council, answered: To Caesar you have appealed, to Caesar you will go!

¹³Now when some days had passed, Agrippa the king and Bernice came down to Caesarea, greeting Festus.

¹⁴Now as they were staying there many days, Festus laid before the king the things relating to Paul, saying: There is a certain man left by Felix as a prisoner,

¹⁵concerning whom, when I had been in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews made a presentation, asking a penalty against him;

¹⁶to whom I answered that it is not the custom with Romans to give up any man into punishment before the one being accused would be able to face the accusers and would have the opportunity of defense concerning the accusation.

¹⁷Therefore when they were assembling here, having made no delay, on the next day I had sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought;

¹⁸concerning whom the accusers, having stood up, were bringing no charge of which I myself was suspect of crimes;

¹⁹however they had against him certain questions concerning their own religion, and concerning a certain Jesus having died, whom Paul was affirming to be alive.

²⁰Now I myself, being perplexed into the inquiry concerning these things, was asking if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and there to be judged concerning these things.

²¹But Paul, having appealed for himself to be kept for the Emperor's decision, I commanded him to be kept until I return him to Caesar.

²²Then Agrippa was saying to Festus: I myself was also wanting to hear the man. Tomorrow, he says, you will hear him.

²³Therefore on the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice were coming with great pomp and had entered into the audience hall with both the commanders and the men being in prominence in the city, and when Festus was commanding, Paul was brought in.

²⁴And Festus says: King Agrippa, and all you men who are present with us, you see this one concerning whom all the multitude of the Jews pleaded with me, in both Jerusalem and here, crying that he need not live no longer.

²⁵However I myself, having grasped nothing worthy of death him to have done, and himself having appealed to the Emperor, I determined to send him.

²⁶Concerning whom I have not anything definite to write to my lord, therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that when the examination has taken place I may have something I may write;

²⁷for it seems absurd to me, in sending a prisoner, not also to specify the charges against him.