Acts 25:13-27

¹³Now when several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea, paying their respects to Festus. ¹⁴And while they were spending many days there, Festus presented Paul’s case to the king, saying, “There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix; ¹⁵and when I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. ¹⁶I replied to them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any person before the accused meets his accusers face to face, and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. ¹⁷So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered that the man be brought. ¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they did not begin bringing any charges against him of crimes that I suspected, ¹⁹but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. ²⁰And being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these matters. ²¹But when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered that he be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.” ²²Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he *said, “you shall hear him.”

²³So, on the next day when Agrippa and Bernice came amid great pomp and entered the auditorium, accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought before them. ²⁴And Festus *said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. ²⁵But I found that he had committed nothing deserving death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. ²⁶Yet, I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore, I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. ²⁷For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him as well.”