Acts 23

1 And looking earnestly on the sanhedrin, Paul said, Men, brothers, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.

2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

3 Then Paul said to him, God shall strike you, whitened wall! For do you sit judging me according to the Law, and against law command me to be stricken?

4 And they who stood by him said, Do you revile God's high priest?

5 Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest; for it is written, "You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people."

6 But when Paul saw that the one part were Sadducees and the other part Pharisees, he cried out in the sanhedrin, Men! Brothers! I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee! I am being judged because of the hope and resurrection of the dead.

7 And when he had said this, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the multitude was divided.

8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.

9 And there arose a great cry. And the scribes who were on the Pharisees' side arose and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man. But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.

10 And dissension arising, the chiliarch, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and to take him from among them by force, and to bring him into the fortress.

11 And the following night the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified of Me in Jerusalem, so you also must bear witness at Rome.

12 And when it became day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

13 And they who made this conspiracy were more than forty.

14 And they came to the chief priests and elders and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul.

15 Now therefore you, with the sanhedrin, inform the chiliarch that he bring him down to you tomorrow, as though you would inquire something more perfectly regarding him. And we are ready to put him to death before he comes near.

16 And hearing of the ambush, Paul's sister's son, having come near, and entering into the fortress, he reported to Paul.

17 And calling one of the centurions, Paul said, Bring this young man to the chiliarch, for he has a certain thing to tell him.

18 So he took him and brought him to the chiliarch and said, Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, who has something to say to you.

19 And laying hold of his hand, and drawing aside privately, the chiliarch asked him, What is it that you have to tell me?

20 And he said, The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the sanhedrin tomorrow, as though they would inquire something more exactly about him.

21 But do not yield to them, for there are more than forty men of them lying in wait for him, who have bound themselves with an oath that they will neither eat nor drink until they have killed him. And now they are ready, looking for a promise from you.

22 So the chiliarch sent away the young man commanding, Tell no one that you have shown these things to me.

23 And he called two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen, at the third hour of the night.

24 And provide animals, so that they may set Paul on them and bring him to Felix the governor.

25 And he wrote a letter in this way:

26 Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix, greetings.

27 This man was taken by the Jews and would have been killed by them. Then I came with an army and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.

28 And being minded to know the charge for which they accused him, I brought him down to their sanhedrin;

29 whom I found be accused of questions of their law, and having no charge worthy of death or of bonds.

30 And it being revealed to me that a plot against the man was about to be executed by the Jews, I immediately sent him to you, commanding his accusers also to say before you what they had against him. Farewell.

31 Then, indeed, taking up Paul, as it was commanded them, the soldiers brought him by night to Antipatris.

32 And on the next day they left the horsemen to go with him and returned to the fortress.

33 And when they had come to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul before him also.

34 And when the governor had read the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from Cilicia,

35 he said, I will hear you when your accusers have also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's Praetorium.