Acts 23:1-19

¹And Paul, looking fixedly at the Sanhedrin, said, My brothers, my life has been upright before God till this day.

²And the high priest, Ananias, gave orders to those who were near him to give him a blow on the mouth.

³Then Paul said to him, God will give blows to you, you whitewashed wall: are you here to be my judge by law, and by your orders am I given blows against the law?

⁴And those who were near said, Do you say such words against God's high priest?

⁵And Paul said, Brother, I had no idea that he was the high priest: for it has been said, You may not say evil about the ruler of your people.

⁶But when Paul saw that half of them were Sadducees and the rest Pharisees, he said in the Sanhedrin, Brothers, I am a Pharisee, and the son of Pharisees: I am here to be judged on the question of the hope of the coming back from the dead.

⁷And when he had said this, there was an argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and a division in the meeting.

⁸For the Sadducees say that there is no coming back from the dead, and no angels or spirits: but the Pharisees have belief in all these.

⁹And there was a great outcry: and some of the scribes on the side of the Pharisees got up and took part in the discussion, saying, We see no evil in this man: what if he has had a revelation from an angel or a spirit?

¹⁰And when the argument became very violent, the chief captain, fearing that Paul would be pulled in two by them, gave orders to the armed men to take him by force from among them, and take him into the army building.

¹¹And the night after, the Lord came to his side and said, Be of good heart, for as you have been witnessing for me in Jerusalem, so will you be my witness in Rome.

¹²And when it was day, the Jews came together and put themselves under an oath that they would take no food or drink till they had put Paul to death.

¹³And more than forty of them took this oath.

¹⁴And they came to the chief priests and the rulers and said, We have taken a great oath to take no food till we have put Paul to death

¹⁵So now, will you and the Sanhedrin make a request to the military authorities to have him sent down to you, as if you were desiring to go into the business in greater detail; and we, before ever he gets to you, will be waiting to put him to death.

¹⁶But Paul's sister's son had word of their design, and he came into the army building and gave news of it to Paul.

¹⁷And Paul sent for a captain and said, Take this young man to your chief, for he has news for him.

¹⁸So he took him to the chief captain and said, Paul, the prisoner, made a request to me to take this young man to you, for he has something to say to you.

¹⁹And the chief took him by the hand and, going on one side, said to him privately, What is it you have to say to me?