Acts 23:1-18 ▼

1 Paul looked straight at the Council and said, |Brothers, with a clear conscience I have done my duty before God up to this very day.|

2 Then the high priest Ananias ordered the men standing near him to strike him on the mouth.

3 At this Paul told him, |God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! How can you sit there and judge me according to the Law, and yet in violation of the Law order me to be struck?|

4 The men standing near him asked, |Do you mean to insult God's high priest?|

5 Paul answered, |I didn't realize, brothers, that he is the high priest. After all, it is written, 'You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.'|

6 When Paul saw that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he shouted in the Council, |Brothers, I'm a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I'm on trial concerning the hope that the dead will be resurrected.|

7 After he said that, an angry quarrel broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided,

8 because the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there is no such thing as an angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in all those things.

9 There was a great deal of shouting until some of the scribes who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and argued forcefully, |We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?|

10 The quarrel was becoming violent, and the tribune was afraid that they would tear Paul to pieces. So he ordered the soldiers to go down, take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

11 That night the Lord stood near Paul and said, |Have courage! For just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, you must testify in Rome, too.|

12 In the morning, the Jewish leaders formed a conspiracy and took an oath not to eat or drink anything before they had killed Paul.

13 More than 40 men formed this conspiracy.

14 They went to the high priests and elders and said, |We have taken a solemn oath not to taste any food before we have killed Paul.

15 Now then, you and the Council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you on the pretext that you want to look into his case more carefully, but before he arrives we'll be ready to kill him.|

16 But the son of Paul's sister heard about the ambush, so he came and got into the barracks and told Paul.

17 Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, |Take this young man to the tribune, because he has something to tell him.|

18 So the centurion took him, brought him to the tribune, and said, |The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.|