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an inciter of riot among all the Jews throughout the world, a ringleader 6 of the party of the Nazarenes. He even tried to desecrate the temple; but we seized him,1 and intended to try him according to our own 7 law. However, Lysias the tribune came forward and took him out of 8 our hands with great violence, ordering his accusers to go to thee. Examine Lysias for thyself and thou wilt be able to ascertain from him 9 about all these accusations that we bring against the prisoner." The Jews 10 also joined in the attack, alleging that such was the case. Then the pro

curator nodded to Paul to speak, and he answered : "As I know thou hast been judge to this nation for a number of years, I am greatly encour11 aged in making my defence. As thou canst ascertain, not more than 12 twelve days have passed since I went up to worship at Jerusalem. They

never found me in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city disput13 ing with anyone or causing a riot in the crowd; nor can they offer thee 14 any proof of the accusations that they now bring against me. This I certainly own to thee, that according to the way which they call a 'party' I serve our fathers' God; for I believe all that is written throughout the 15 law and in the prophets, cherishing the hope towards God that these men also entertain themselves, namely, that there will be a resurrection of 16 the just and of the unjust. Hence I too take constant pains to keep my 17 conscience clear towards God and men. Now after several years 18 I came with alms and offerings for my nation; and it was in presenting these that they found me in the temple, a man who had been purified, 19 with neither crowd nor tumult. But some Jews from Asia-and they

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ought to have been here before thee to accuse me of whatever charge 20 they have against me! Or, let these men here speak for themselves! 21 What fault did they find in my appearance before the Sanhedrin ?—unless it was in my one cry as I stood among them, 'For the resurrection of the 22 dead I am on trial to-day before you." However, as Felix had a somewhat accurate knowledge of the Way, he put them off, saying, "When Lysias 23 the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.' He also gave instructions to the centurion to keep him in custody, but to allow him relaxation, and not to prevent any of his associates from waiting on him. 24 Some days afterwards, Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, a Jewess; and sending for Paul he listened to what he said upon faith in Christ Jesus. 25 But as he reasoned upon uprightness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became uneasy and answered, "Leave me for the present. 26 When I get an opportunity, I will summon thee." At the same time he hoped Paul would give him money, and so he sent for him all the more 27 frequently, and conversed with him. But when two years were completed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and as he wished to ingratiate himself with the Jews, Felix left Paul in bonds.

25 1 So Festus entered on his province, and after three days went up from 2 Caesarea to Jerusalem. And the high priests and leading men of the Jews made representations to him against Paul; also, they besought and 3 begged him, as a favour, to send for him to Jerusalem [while they lay in 4 ambush to kill him on the road]. Festus thereupon replied that Paul was in custody at Caesarea; and as he was himself to leave before long 5 for that place, "Let the principal men among you," said he, "go down 6 with me and accuse the man of whatever harm is in him." Now, after staying among them for eight or ten days at the most, he went down to Caesarea. On the next day he seated himself upon the tribunal and

1 Adding καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἡμέτερον νόμον ἠθελήσαμεν κρίνειν· κατελθὼν δὲ Λυσίας ὁ χιλίαρχοι μετὰ πολλῆς βίας ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ἡμῶν ἀπήγαγε, κελεύσας τοὺς κατηγόροις αὐτὸν ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ σέ.

7 ordered Paul to be brought. When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood round him and brought many weighty 8 charges against him, which they were unable to prove, Paul arguing in his defence, "Neither against the Jewish law, nor against the temple, nor 9 against Caesar, have I sinned at all." Wishing to ingratiate himself with the Jews, Festus answered Paul and said, “Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem 10 and be tried there on these charges before me?" Paul said, "I stand before Caesar's tribunal, and there I should be tried; I have committed no offence at all against Jews, and thou knowest that perfectly well. 11 Now, if I am a criminal and have done anything to deserve death, I do not object to die; but if none of their charges against me is true, no 12 one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar! Then, after conferring with the council, Festus replied, "Thou hast appealed to Caesar: to Caesar shalt thou go."

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Now after the lapse of some days, Agrippa the king and Bernicê 14 reached Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. As they were spending a number of days there, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying, 15 "There is a man whom Felix has left behind in prison; and when I was at Jerusalem, the high priests and the elders of the Jews made representa16 tions to me about him, asking for sentence to be passed upon him. My answer to them was, that Romans are not accustomed to give up any man until the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has had a chance of 17 defending himself against the impeachment. So when they came here with me, I interposed no delay; the very next day, I seated myself on the 18 tribunal and ordered the man to be brought. But when the accusers came forward, they laid no accusation of such crimes as I had surmised in this 19 case; their questions in which they opposed him, related to their own superstition, and to some dead person Jesus, whom Paul alleged to be alive. 20 Perplexed about the method of inquiry into these subjects, I asked if he 21 would go to Jerusalem and be tried upon them there; but as Paul entered

an appeal to be kept and examined by the Emperor, I ordered him to be 22 kept till I could remit him to Caesar." "I should like," said Agrippa to Festus, "to hear the man myself." "Thou shalt hear him," said he, "to23 morrow." So the next day, Agrippa and Bernicê came with great pomp and entered the hall of audience, accompanied by the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city; and by order of Festus, Paul was 24 brought in. Then says Festus, "King Agrippa and all the company now present, here you see the man about whom all the Jewish multitude, both at Jerusalem and in this place, have applied to me, loudly declaring that he 25 must live no longer. However, I found that he had done nothing to deserve death; and as he entered an appeal himself to the Emperor, I 26 decided to send him. But as I have nothing reliable to write with regard to him to the sovereign, I have brought him before you; and especially before thee, king Agrippa, that as the result of an examination 27 I may have something to write. For it seems to me absurd to send a prisoner without indicating at the same time the particulars of which he 26 1 is accused." So Agrippa said to Paul, “Thou hast permission to speak for thyself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded with his 2 defence: "I consider myself fortunate, king Agrippa, in being able to-day to defend myself before thee upon all that the Jews charge me 3 with, as thou art particularly well informed upon all Jewish questions 4 and customs. I pray thee then to hear me patiently. My general life from youth up, passed from the outset among my own nation and 5 at Jerusalem, is known to all the Jews. From the very first they

know, if they would own to it, that I lived according to the most rigor6 ous party in our religion, as a Pharisee. (And now it is for the hope of 7 the promise which God made to our fathers that I stand here on trial, a promise which our twelve tribes hope to attain by serving God earnestly night and day. It is for this hope, O king, that Jews impeach me !—) 9 Well then, I thought to myself that I must actively oppose the name of Jesus 10 the Nazarene. Which indeed I did in Jerusalem, by shutting up many of the saints in prison, after I got authority from the high priests; also by 11 giving my vote against them when they were put to death; also by attempting to compel them to blaspheme, by frequently punishing them in every synagogue. Maddened beyond measure against them, I pursued them 12 actually as far as the foreign cities. In the course of this, as I journeyed 13 to Damascus with the authority and commission of the high priests, I saw on the road at midday, O king, a light from the sky more dazzling than 14 the sun, flash round me and my fellow-travellers. We all fell to the ground. And I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, "Saul, Saul, why art thou persecuting me? It is ill for thee to kick 15 against the goad." And I said, "Who art thou, sir?" And the Lord 16 said, "I am Jesus, and thou art persecuting me. But rise and stand on thy feet; for I have appeared to thee in order to appoint thee a servant and a witness of what thou hast seen, and of the visions in which thou shalt 17 see me. I will rescue thee from the people and from the Gentiles—to whom I 18 send thee for the opening of their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive the remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified, by faith in 19 me." Upon this, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly 20 vision, but I brought word first to those at Damascus and at Jerusalem, then through all the land of Judaea, and also to the Gentiles, that they were 21 to repent and turn to God, by doing deeds that befitted repentance. This is 22 why Jews arrested me in the temple and attempted to murder me.

Thanks

then to the succour which I have to this day obtained from God, here I stand, testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the pro8 phets and Moses said would come to pass. Why should you judge it incred23 ible that God should raise the dead, that the Christ should suffer, that he first by a resurrection from the dead should proclaim light both to the 24 people and to the Gentiles?" As he made this defence, Festus

said with a loud voice, “Paul, thou art mad! Great learning drives thee 25 insane!" "Most excellent Festus,” Paul said, “I am not mad; I utter words 26 of truth and sense. Why, the king knows about these things! To the king

I speak with confidence, for I cannot believe any one of these things is 27 unfamiliar to him; this has not taken place in a corner. King Agrippa, 28 dost thou believe the prophets? I know thou dost."-And Agrippa said to Paul, “A little more and thou wouldst have me act the Christian ! ” 29 "A little more or not," said Paul, "I would to God not only thou but also all who hear me this day might become what I am, except for these bonds!"

30 Then the king rose and the procurator, also Bernicê and those who 31 sat with them; and on retiring and talking to one another they agreed, 32"This man has done nothing to deserve death or bonds." As for Agrippa, he said to Festus, "This man might have been released, if he had not appealed to Caesar."

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Now when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Imperial cohort 2 named Julius. Embarking in an Adramyttian ship which was bound for

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the Asiatic seaports, we set sail-accompanied by a Macedonian, Aris3 tarchus of Thessalonika-and put in, next day, at Sidon. There Julius acted humanely to Paul, by permitting him to visit his friends and be 4 attended to. Putting to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, 5 as the winds were against us; then sailing for fifteen 1 days through the Cilician and Pamphylian waters, we came to the town of Myrra in Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy, and put us 7 on board of her. For many days we sailed slowly, and only arrived off Cnidus with difficulty. Then, as the wind checked our progress, we sailed 8 under the lee of Crete off Cape Salmonê, and by coasting along it we reached with difficulty a place called Fairhavens; near it lay a city called Lasea. When a considerable time had elapsed and sailing had now become dangerous (for the Fast was now over), Paul gave them his advice in these 10 words, "Sirs, I see that the voyage is going to be attended with hardship and heavy loss, not merely to the cargo and the ship, but also to our own lives." 11 The centurion, however, was more influenced by the sailing-master and 12 the captain than by what Paul said; and, as the harbour was ill-adapted for wintering in, the majority proposed to set sail and try, if possible, to reach Phoenix and winter there-it is a Cretan harbour which looks SW and NW. 13 When a moderate southerly breeze sprang up, they imagined they had secured their end; and after weighing anchor, they sailed close inshore 14 along the Cretan coast. Presently down rushed a hurricane of a wind from 15 the island, called Euraquilo; and as the ship was caught and unable to 16 face the wind, we gave way and let her drive along. Running under the lee of a small island called Kauda, we managed with difficulty to 17 get the boat hauled in; and after it had been hoisted up, they made use of ropes 2 to undergird the ship. Then, in fear of being swept upon the Syrtis sands, they lowered the sail, and let the ship drive as she was. 18 Terribly were we beaten by the storm. The very next day, they had to 19 jettison the cargo, and on the third day they threw the ship's gear over20 board with their own hands. For many days neither sun nor stars were

visible, the storm pressed heavily, and we were at last divested of all hope 21 of being saved. [Then after they had gone without food for some time, Paul stood up among them and said, "You should have obeyed me, sirs, and spared yourselves this damage and loss, by not setting sail from 22 Crete. And now my advice to you is, take heart; there shall be no 23 loss of life among you, only of the ship. For this night an angel from 24 God, the God whose I am and whom I serve, stood before me, saying, 'Fear

not, Paul, thou must stand before Caesar. And lo, God has given thee 25 all thy fellow-voyagers! ' So take heart, sirs; for I believe God that 26 it shall be exactly as I have been told. However, we must be cast upon 27 some island.'"] When the fourteenth night came, we were drifting

to and fro in the sea of Adria, and about midnight the sailors surmised some 28 land was near. On taking soundings they found twenty fathoms; and a 29 little further on, when they sounded again, they found fifteen. Then fearing we might get cast upon a rocky coast, they let go four anchors 30 from the stern, and longed for daylight. The sailors, however, tried to escape from the ship; they had even lowered the boat into the sea 31 on the pretext of going to lay out anchors from the bow, when Paul said to the centurion and soldiers, "Unless these men stay by the ship, you 32 cannot be saved." Thereupon the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat 33 and let her fall off. Now before the day broke, Paul besought them all to take some food. "For fourteen days," said he, "you have been con1 Adding δι' ἡμερῶν δεκάπεντε. 2 Reading βοείαις.

34 stantly on the watch without eating; you have taken nothing. I beseech you, therefore, to take some food; it will conduce to your safety-for not 35 one hair of your head shall perish." Saying this he took bread, gave 36 thanks to God before them all, broke it and began to eat. Then they all 37 cheered up and took food for themselves (there were about 1 seventy-six 38 souls of us in the ship, all told); and after eating their fill, they started 39 to lighten the ship by throwing out the provisions into the sea. When day

broke, they did not recognise the land; however, they observed a sort of creek with a sandy beach, where they resolved (if possible) to run the 40 ship ashore. So the anchors were cast off and left in the sea, while at the same time the men unlashed the fastenings of the rudders, hoisted the 41 foresail to the breeze, and headed for the beach. Coming upon a place where two seas met, they drove the ship aground; but, while the prow struck and remained immovable, the stern began to break up under 42 the force of the waves. Now the soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, 43 in case of anyone swimming away and escaping. However, as the centurion wished to save Paul, he hindered them from their purpose, ordering those who could swim to jump overboard and get first to the land, 44 while the rest were to get upon planks or on pieces of the ship. so it came to pass that all escaped safe to land. 28 1

And

Then after our escape we found out that the island was called Melita. 2 And the foreigners behaved with uncommon humanity to us; for, as rain had come on and as it was cold, they kindled a fire and welcomed us all to it. 3 Now Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, when 4 a viper came out with the heat and fastened on his hand. When the foreigners saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, This man is certainly a murderer. He has escaped the sea, 5 but Justice will not let him live." However, he shook off the creature 6 into the fire, and was none the worse. Now they were waiting for him to swell or drop down suddenly a corpse; but after waiting a long while and seeing that no harm came to him, they changed their minds and said 7 he was a god. And in the neighbourhood of that place there

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were lands belonging to the head man of the island, whose name was Publius. He bade us welcome and entertained us courteously for three 8 days. Now it so happened that the father of Publius was laid up with fever and dysentery; but Paul went in to him, prayed, laid his hands 9 on him, and cured him. When this took place, the rest in the island who 10 had diseases also came and got cured. And they paid us many honours, and furnished us, when we set sail, with necessaries.

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We set sail, after three months, in an Alexandrian vessel which had 12 wintered in the island (her sign was "The Twin Brothers"), and putting 13 in at Syracuse we stayed for three days. Tacking round from there we arrived at Rhegium; and as one day later a south wind sprang up, we 14 came upon the second day to Puteoli. There we fell in with brothers,

in whose company we found refreshment during our stay 2 of seven days. 15 And so to Rome we came. As the brothers there had heard about us, they came out as far as Appii Forum and Tres Tabernae to meet us; and 16 when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. When

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we entered Rome, Paul was given permission to stay by himself, with the soldiers who guarded him.

Now it came to pass after three days that he called the leading Jews together; and when they had assembled, he said to them, "Men and brothers, though I have done nothing against the People or the customs 2 Reading ἐπιμείναντες.

1 Reading is.

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