Acts of the Apostles Chapter 23

23 : 1 And Paul, after looking intently at the council, said, Men, brothers, I have been a citizen in all good conscience to God until this day.

23 : 2 And the high priest Ananias ordered those who stood by him to strike his mouth.

23 : 3 Then Paul said to him, God is going to smite thee, a whitewashed wall. Thou even sit judging me according to the law, and violating law, thou command me to be struck?

23 : 4 And those who stood by said, Thou revile God's high priest?

23 : 5 And Paul said, I had not known, brothers, that he is a high priest, for it is written, Thou shall not speak ill of a ruler of thy people.

23 : 6 But when Paul ascertained that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men, brothers, I am a Pharisee, son of a Pharisee. About the hope and resurrection of the dead I am judged.

23 : 7 And when he said this, there developed a conflict of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the group was divided.

23 : 8 For in fact Sadducees say to be no resurrection nor agent nor spirit, but Pharisees acknowledge them all.

23 : 9 And there developed a great clamor. And some of the scholars of the Pharisees part having risen, they argued vehemently, saying, We find nothing wrong in this man. But if a spirit spoke to him, or an agent, we should not fight against God.

23 : 10 And a great conflict having developed, the chief captain, having been alarmed lest Paul might be torn apart by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from the midst of them, and bring him into the fort.

23 : 11 And the following night the Lord, having stood by him, said, Cheer up, Paul, for as thou have testified these things about me at Jerusalem, so thou must testify also at Rome.

23 : 12 And when it became day, some of the Jews, having made a conspiracy, put themselves under a curse, saying neither to eat nor to drink until they would kill Paul.

23 : 13 And there were more than forty who made this conspiracy,

23 : 14 who, having come near to the chief priests and the elders, said, We have put ourselves under a curse, a curse to taste of nothing until we would kill Paul.

23 : 15 Now therefore ye with the council report to the chief captain that tomorrow he may bring him down to you, as though going to inquire more accurately the things about him. And we, before he comes near, are prepared to kill him.

23 : 16 But the son of Paul's sister, having heard of the ambush, having come and entered into the fort, he informed Paul.

23 : 17 And Paul, having called one of the centurions, said, Take this young man to the chief captain, for he has something to inform him.

23 : 18 Indeed therefore having taken him, he brought him to the chief captain, and says, Paul the prisoner, having called me, asked me to bring this young man to thee, who has something to say to thee.

23 : 19 And the chief captain having grasped his hand, and having gone in private, he asked him, What is it that thou have to inform me?

23 : 20 And he said, The Jews have agreed to ask thee that tomorrow thou would bring Paul down to the council, as though going to inquire something more accurately about him.

23 : 21 Therefore thou should not be persuaded by them, for more than forty men of them wait to ambush him, who have put themselves under an oath, neither to eat nor drink until they have killed him. And now they are ready, expecting the promise from thee.

23 : 22 Indeed therefore the chief captain dismissed the young man, having ordered, Tell no man that thou have shown these things to me.

23 : 23 And having summoned a certain two of the centurions, he said, Prepare two hundred soldiers that they may go to Caesarea, and seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen at the third hour of the night.

23 : 24 And provide beasts, so that after mounting Paul, they may bring him safely to Felix the governor,

23 : 25 after writing a letter containing this form:

23 : 26 Claudius Lysias to the eminent governor Felix, greeting.

23 : 27 This man who was seized by the Jews, and was going to be killed by them, having stood by with the soldiers, I rescued him, having learned that he is a Roman.

23 : 28 And wanting to know for what reason they accused him, I brought him down to their council,

23 : 29 whom I found accusing about issues of their law, having not one accusation worthy of death or of bonds.

23 : 30 And when it was reported to me of a plot going to be against the man by the Jews, I immediately sent him to thee, also having commanded the accusers to speak before thee the things against him. Be strong.

23 : 31 Indeed therefore, the soldiers, according to that which was precisely arranged for them, having taken Paul, they brought him through the night to Antipatris.

23 : 32 But on the morrow they returned to the fort, having allowed the horsemen to depart with him,

23 : 33 who, after coming to Caesarea and having delivered the letter to the governor, also presented Paul to him.

23 : 34 And the governor having read it, and having questioned from what province he was, and having found out that he was from Cilicia,

23 : 35 he said, I will hear thee when thine accusers also will arrive. And he commanded him to be kept in the Praetorium of Herod.