1So, three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
2There, the chief priests and the leading Jewish men presented their charges against Paul and begged Festus,
3asking him as a favor to have Paul brought to Jerusalem. They were secretly planning to kill him on the way.
4However, Festus replied that Paul would be kept in custody at Caesarea, and that he himself would be leaving soon.
5“Therefore,” he said, “let your influential people come down with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, let them accuse him.”
6After he had stayed among them for more than ten days, he went down to Caesarea. The next day he sat on the judge's seat and ordered Paul to be brought before him.
7When Paul arrived, the Jewish people who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They made many serious accusations against him, but they couldn't prove any of them.
8Paul defended himself, saying, "I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish Law, or against the temple, or against Caesar."
9But Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be judged by me there concerning these matters?"
10Paul replied, "I am standing before Caesar's court, where I should be judged. I have not wronged the Jewish people, as you know very well.
11If I have done something wrong and deserve to die, I am not trying to avoid death. But if the accusations they are making against me are false, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!"
12Then Festus, after discussing it with his council, replied, "You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go."
13A few days later, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and greeted Festus.
14Since they were staying there for many days, Festus presented Paul's case to the king, saying, "There is a certain man left in prison by Felix.
15When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jewish people told me about him and asked for him to be condemned.
16I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before the accused has met their accusers face to face and had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges.
17So when they came here, I didn't delay. The very next day I sat on the judge's seat and ordered the man to be brought in.
18When his accusers stood up, they didn't charge him with any of the crimes I expected.
19Instead, they had some disagreements with him about their own religion and about a man named Jesus, who was dead, but Paul claimed was alive.
20I was unsure how to investigate these matters, so I asked Paul if he was willing to go to Jerusalem and be judged there concerning these issues.
21But when Paul appealed to be held for the emperor's decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I could send him to Caesar."
22Agrippa said to Festus, "I would also like to hear this man myself." Festus replied, "Tomorrow you will hear him."
23So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice arrived with great fanfare. They entered the audience hall with the military commanders and the leading men of the city. At Festus's command, Paul was brought in.
24Festus said, "King Agrippa, and all of you who are present with us, you see this man. All the Jewish people, both in Jerusalem and here, have pleaded with me about him, shouting that he should not live any longer.
25But I found that he had done nothing deserving of death. And since he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to send him there."
26However, I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore, I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this examination, I may have something to write.
27For it seems unreasonable to me, when sending a prisoner, not to also specify the charges against him."