Acts 25:3

3 They asked Festus to do them a favor. They wanted him to send Paul back to Jerusalem, because they had a plan to kill him on the way.

Acts 25:3 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 25:3

And desired favour against him
Paul; they asked what would be a favour to them, and a prejudice to him: or "of him", that is, of Festus; they asked a favour of him, and desired it as such, as what would be gratefully accepted and acknowledged by them; which sense is confirmed by the Syriac version; the Arabic version renders it "to", or "upon them"; that is, they asked him to grant a favour to them, or bestow one on them, which is as follows:

that he would send for him to Jerusalem;
that his case might be heard before him, and he might be tried and judged by him, as they pretended:

laying wait in the way to kill him;
this was their design, though they concealed it, and pretended no other view than that justice might take place: their scheme was, that if they could have prevailed upon Festus to have sent for Paul to Jerusalem, from Caesarea, they would have provided men, perhaps the same forty and upwards as before, in ( Acts 23:12 Acts 23:13 ) to have laid in wait for him in the way as he came, and to have killed him: the whole of this shows the malice of these men, the badness of their cause, the indefatigableness and diligence to attain their end, the danger the apostle was in, and the care of Providence over him.

Acts 25:3 In-Context

1 Three days after Festus became governor, he went from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

2 There the leading priests and the important Jewish leaders made charges against Paul before Festus.

3 They asked Festus to do them a favor. They wanted him to send Paul back to Jerusalem, because they had a plan to kill him on the way.

4 But Festus answered that Paul would be kept in Caesarea and that he himself was returning there soon.

5 He said, "Some of your leaders should go with me. They can accuse the man there in Caesarea, if he has really done something wrong."