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."
6
Festus stayed in Jerusalem another eight or ten days and then went back to Caesarea. The next day he told the soldiers to bring Paul before him. Festus was seated on the judge's seat
7
when Paul came into the room. The Jewish people who had come from Jerusalem stood around him, making serious charges against him, which they could not prove.
8
This is what Paul said to defend himself: "I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law, against the Temple, or against Caesar."
9
But Festus wanted to please the Jews. So he asked Paul, "Do you want to go to Jerusalem for me to judge you there on these charges?"