Acts 24:1-6

Paul Before Felix at Caesarea Maritima

1 And after five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney, a certain Tertullus, all of whom brought charges against Paul to the governor.

2 And [when] he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse [him], saying, "We have experienced much peace through you, and reforms are taking place in this nation through your foresight.

3 Both in every [way] and everywhere we acknowledge [this], most excellent Felix, with all gratitude.

4 But so that I may not impose on you for longer, I implore you to hear us briefly with your [customary] graciousness.

5 For we have found this man [to be] a public menace and one who causes riots among all the Jews throughout the Roman Empire and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,

6 who even attempted to desecrate the temple, and we arrested {him}.

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("had been summoned")
• [b] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [c] *Here this participle ("have experienced") and the following participle ("are taking place") have been translated as finite verbs in keeping with English style
• [d] Or "many [years]," with "years" understood
• [e] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [f] *Here this participle ("found") has been translated as a finite verb in keeping with English style
• [g] Literally "the inhabited earth," but here this is probably rhetorical hyperbole for the Roman Empire, especially since Felix, the Roman governor, is being addressed
• [h] Literally "whom"
• [i] Some later manuscripts include the following additional material between v. 6 and v. 8: "and we wanted to judge him according to our law, (24:7) but Lysius the military tribune came and took him from our hands with much violence, (24:8) ordering his accusers to come before you."