12
And when it was day, the Jews, having banded together, put themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they should kill Paul.
13
And they were more than forty who had joined together in this oath;
14
and they went to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have cursed ourselves with a curse to taste nothing until we kill Paul
15
Now therefore do ye with the council make a representation to the chiliarch so that he may bring him down to you, as about to determine more precisely what concerns him, and we, before he draws near, are ready to kill him.
16
But Paul's sister's son, having heard of the lying in wait, came and entered into the fortress and reported [it] to Paul.
17
And Paul, having called one of the centurions, said, Take this youth to the chiliarch, for he has something to report to him.
18
He therefore, having taken him with [him], led him to the chiliarch, and says, The prisoner Paul called me to [him] and asked me to lead this youth to thee, who has something to say to thee.
19
And the chiliarch having taken him by the hand, and having gone apart in private, inquired, What is it that thou hast to report to me
20
And he said, The Jews have agreed together to make a request to thee, that thou mayest bring Paul down to-morrow into the council, as about to inquire something more precise concerning him.
21
Do not thou then be persuaded by them, for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, who have put themselves under a curse neither to eat nor drink till they kill him; and now they are ready waiting the promise from thee
22
The chiliarch then dismissed the youth, commanding [him], Utter to no one that thou hast represented these things to me.
23
And having called to [him] certain two of the centurions, he said, Prepare two hundred soldiers that they may go as far as Caesarea, and seventy horsemen, and two hundred light-armed footmen, for the third hour of the night.
24
And [he ordered them] to provide beasts, that they might set Paul on them and carry [him] safe through to Felix the governor,
25
having written a letter, couched in this form:
26
Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix, greeting.
27
This man, having been taken by the Jews, and being about to be killed by them, I came up with the military and took out [of their hands], having learned that he was a Roman.
28
And desiring to know the charge on which they accused him, I brought him down to their council;
29
whom I found to be accused of questions of their law, but to have no charge laid against him [making him] worthy of death or of bonds.
30
But having received information of a plot about to be put in execution against the man [by the Jews], I have immediately sent him to thee, commanding also his accusers to say before thee the things that are against him. [Farewell.]
31
The soldiers therefore, according to what was ordered them, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris,
32
and on the morrow, having left the horsemen to go with him, returned to the fortress.
33
And these, having entered into Caesarea, and given up the letter to the governor, presented Paul also to him.
34
And having read [it], and asked of what eparchy he was, and learned that [he was] of Cilicia,
35
he said, I will hear thee fully when thine accusers also are arrived. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's praetorium.