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Acts 23

Paul before the Council

1

Paul, looking intently at  athe  1Council, said, " bBrethren,  cI have  2lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day."

2

The high priest  aAnanias commanded those standing beside him  bto strike him on the mouth.

3

Then Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you,  ayou whitewashed wall! Do you  bsit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?"

4

But the bystanders said, "Do you revile God's high priest?"

5

And Paul said, "I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ` aYOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.' "

6

But perceiving that one group were  aSadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in  bthe  1Council, " cBrethren,  dI am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for  ethe hope and resurrection of the dead!"

7

As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

8

For  athe Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

9

And there occurred a great uproar; and some of  athe scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, " bWe find nothing wrong with this man;  csuppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"

10

And as a great dissension was developing, the  1commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into  athe barracks.

11

But on  athe night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, bTake courage; for  cas you have  dsolemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also."

A Conspiracy to Kill Paul

12

When it was day,  athe Jews formed a  1conspiracy and  bbound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

13

There were more than forty who formed this plot.

14

They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, "We have  abound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.

15

"Now therefore, you  1and  athe  2Council notify the  3commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place."

16

But the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush,  1and he came and entered  athe barracks and told Paul.

17

Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, "Lead this young man to the  1commander, for he has something to report to him."

18

So he took him and led him to the  1commander and *said, "Paul  athe prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since he has something to tell you."

19

The  1commander took him by the hand and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, "What is it that you have to report to me?"

20

And he said, " aThe Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to  bthe  1Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him.

21

"So do not  1listen to them, for more than forty of them are  alying in wait for him who have  bbound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him; and now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you."

22

So the  1commander let the young man go, instructing him, "Tell no one that you have notified me of these things."

Paul Moved to Caesarea

23

And he called to him two of the centurions and said, "Get two hundred soldiers ready by  1the third hour of the night to proceed to  aCaesarea,  2with seventy horsemen and two hundred  3spearmen."

24

They were also to provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to  aFelix the governor.

25

And he wrote a letter having this form:

26

"Claudius Lysias, to the  amost excellent governor Felix,  bgreetings.

27

"When this man was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them,  aI came up to them with the troops and rescued him,  bhaving learned that he was a Roman.

28

"And  awanting to ascertain the charge for which they were accusing him, I  bbrought him down to their  1 cCouncil;

29

and I found him to be accused over  aquestions about their Law, but  1under  bno accusation deserving death or  2imprisonment.

30

"When I was  ainformed that there would be  ba plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing  chis accusers to  1bring charges against him before you."

31

So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

32

But the next day, leaving  athe horsemen to go on with him, they returned to  bthe barracks.

33

When these had come to  aCaesarea and delivered the letter to  bthe governor, they also presented Paul to him.

34

When he had read it, he asked from what  aprovince he was, and when he learned that  bhe was from Cilicia,

35

he said, "I will give you a hearing after your  aaccusers arrive also," giving orders for him to be  bkept in Herod's  1Praetorium.



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:24:20 2007)

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