Acts 23
1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived before God with a clear conscience to this day.”
2 The high priest Ananias ordered those standing beside him to strike Paul on the mouth.
3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, whitewashed wall! You are sitting there to judge me according to the Law, yet in violation of the Law you order me to be struck?”
4 Those standing beside him said, “Do you insult God’s high priest?”
5 Paul replied, “I didn’t know, brothers, that he is the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”
6 Knowing that one part of the assembly was Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees. I am on trial because of the hope and the resurrection of the dead.”
7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
8 For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, angel, or spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge all these things.
9 A great uproar followed, and some teachers of the Law from the Pharisees’ party stood up and argued fiercely: “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”
10 As the dispute grew more intense, the commander, afraid that Paul would be torn apart by them, ordered the troops to go down, take him from among them, and bring him into the barracks.
11 The following night the Lord stood beside him and said, “Take courage! Just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
12 When morning came, the Jews formed a plot and bound themselves with an oath, saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.
13 There were more than forty men who made this conspiracy.
14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with an oath not to taste anything until we have killed Paul.
15 Now then, you, together with the Sanhedrin, inform the commander that he should bring Paul to you, as though you were going to examine his case more carefully. We will be ready to kill him before he gets here.”
16 But Paul’s sister’s son heard about the ambush. He went to the barracks, entered, and told Paul.
17 Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.”
18 So the centurion took 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 in private, and asked, “What is it you have to tell me?”
20 He replied, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more carefully about him.
21 But don’t let them persuade you. More than forty of their men are lying in wait for him. They have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for your answer.”
22 The commander dismissed the young man, ordering him, “Tell no one that you have disclosed these things to me.”
23 Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers to go as far as Caesarea, along with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, starting at nine o’clock tonight.
24 Also provide mounts so they can put Paul on one and bring him safely to Governor Felix.”
25 And he wrote a letter with this wording:
26 “Claudius Lysias, to His Excellency Governor Felix: Greetings.
27 This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I arrived with the troops and rescued him, after learning that he was a Roman citizen.
28 Wanting to learn the reason they were accusing him, I brought him before their Sanhedrin.
29 I found that he was being accused over questions of their Law, but that there was no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment.
30 When I was informed that a plot was being made against this man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing his accusers to state their case against him before you.”
31 So the soldiers, in keeping with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.
32 The next day they let the horsemen go on with him and returned to the barracks.
33 The horsemen entered Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and presented Paul to him.
34 He read it, asked what province Paul was from, and learned that he was from Cilicia.
35 Then he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers arrive too.” And he ordered that Paul be kept in Herod’s palace.
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