Acts 25:21

21 But for Paul appealed, that he should be kept to the knowing of the emperor, I commanded him to be kept, till I send him to the emperor [till I shall send him to Caesar].

Acts 25:21 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 25:21

But when Paul had appealed to be reserved
In custody at Caesarea:

unto the hearing of Augustus;
to have his cause heard, tried, and judged of, by the Roman Emperor Nero, here called Augustus; for as it was usual for a Roman emperor to be called Caesar, from Julius Caesar, the first of them, so to be called Augustus, from Octavius Augustus, the second emperor: his original surname was Thurinus, but this being objected to him as a reproachful one, he afterwards took the name of Caesar, and then of Augustus; the one by the will of his great uncle, the other by the advice of Munatius Plancus; when some thought he ought to be called Romulus, as if he was the founder of the city, it prevailed that he should rather be called Augustus; not only this surname being new, but more grand, seeing religious places, and in which anything was consecrated by soothsaying, were called "Augusta, ab auctu, vel ab avium gestu, gustuve", according to Ennius F20: in the Greek text the name is Sebastos, which signifies venerable and worshipful.

I commanded him to be kept;
in Caesarea, by a centurion, and not sent to Jerusalem:

till I might send him to Caesar:
till he could have an opportunity of sending him to Rome, to take his trial before the emperor.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 Suetonius in Vit. Octav. c. 7.

Acts 25:21 In-Context

19 But they had against him some questions of their vain worshipping [of their vain worshipping, or religion], and of one Jesus dead, whom Paul affirmed to live.
20 And I doubted of such manner questions, and said, Whether he would go to Jerusalem, and there be deemed of these things?
21 But for Paul appealed, that he should be kept to the knowing of the emperor, I commanded him to be kept, till I send him to the emperor [till I shall send him to Caesar].
22 And Agrippa said to Festus, I myself would hear the man. And he said, To morrow thou shalt hear him. [Soothly Agrippa said to Festus, And I myself would hear the man. To morrow, he said, thou shalt hear him.]
23 And on the tother day, when Agrippa and Bernice came with great desire [when Agrippa and Bernice came with much ambition, or pride of state], and entered into the auditorium, with tribunes and the principal men of the city, when Festus bade, Paul was brought.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.