1Festus started to be the new governor of that country, then 3 days later, he got up and went from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
2The leaders of the Jewish ceremonies and the other Jewish leaders talked to him there in Jerusalem. They blamed Paul and reckoned he did bad things.
3Then they asked Festus, “Can you tell your soldiers to bring Paul to Jerusalem right now, and judge him here?” You see, they were going to secretly hide near the road and wait for Paul to come along, then jump up and kill him.
4But Festus said, “Paul is in Caesarea, and my soldiers are guarding him there. I’ll be going back to Caesarea in a few days,
5so you pick some of your leaders to come with me. They can blame Paul in my court there.”
6About 8 or 10 days later the Jewish leaders went with Festus back to Caesarea, and the next day Festus had his court. He sat there as the judge. He told his soldiers, “Bring Paul in now.”
7After they brought Paul into the court room the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem stood up and blamed him. They told Festus, “Paul did a lot of bad things.” But they couldn’t show the judge that their story was true.
8Then Paul talked to them to say that he was not guilty. He said, “I haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t break the Jewish law and I didn’t break the rules about God’s ceremony house, and I didn’t break your Roman laws.”
9But Festus wanted the Jewish leaders to be happy, so he asked Paul, “How about this. I can send you to Jerusalem and I can judge you there. Will that be all right?”
10Paul said, “No, I’m not happy to go to Jerusalem. Look, the biggest Roman boss is Caesar, and he made you the judge here, so this is the right place for you to judge me. You know I didn’t do anything wrong to the Jewish people.
11If I did something bad, like something that the law says to the kill people for, I will let them kill me. I will not ask them to let me go free. But I didn’t do anything bad like that. So nobody can give me to this mob and let them kill me. No. Instead of that, I ask you to send me to the biggest Roman boss, called Caesar. I’m asking you to let him judge me in his big city, Rome.”
12Festus talked with his friends there. They were the men that helped him think about things. Then Festus said to Paul, “All right. You want me to send you to Caesar, and I will do that. I’ll send you to Caesar, and he can judge you there in Rome.”
13After a few days, the big boss of another country came to Caesarea. He was called Agrippa. His young sister, called Bernice, came with him. They came to say hello to Festus, and to say, “We are happy for you to be the new governor of this country.”
14While they were there at Caesarea, Festus told that big boss about Paul. He said, “Felix left a prisoner in jail here. He’s a different kind of man.
15You see, I went to Jerusalem and the leaders of the Jewish ceremonies, and the other Jewish leaders there, told me that this man did a lot of bad things. They asked me to say he is guilty, and to tell my soldiers to kill him.
16But I told them, ‘That’s not the way we Romans judge people. If somebody blames another person, we don’t say he is guilty until after we get him, and the people that are blaming him, all into a court room together. And we give him a chance to say why he reckons he is not guilty.’
17So those Jewish leaders came here to Caesarea with me. I didn’t waste any time. The next day I sat down in the court room, I told some soldiers to bring Paul in.
18The Jewish leaders stood up and blamed him, but they didn’t blame him for anything really bad, like I thought they would.
19They only talked about things that some Jews believe and other Jews don’t believe. They argued about a dead man called Jesus, and Paul kept saying, ‘Jesus is alive.’
20I really didn’t know the right way to handle this court. I didn’t know any questions to ask Paul, so I said to him, ‘Are you happy to go to Jerusalem and let me judge you there?’
21But Paul said, ‘No, I’m not happy to go to Jerusalem. I want that biggest boss called Caesar, to judge me.’ So I told my soldiers to guard Paul here, until I can send him to Caesar, in Rome.”
22Then Agrippa said to Festus, “Look, I’d like to hear that man myself.” Festus said, “All right, I’ll let you hear him tomorrow.”
23The next day Agrippa and his young sister Bernice came into the court room. Some bosses of soldiers came with them, and the leaders of Caesarea came with them too. There was a lot of ceremony for them as they came in. Then Festus told his soldiers, “Bring Paul into the court room.” So they brought him in.
24Then Festus said, “Big boss Agrippa, and all of you that are here now, look at this man. A lot of Jews in Jerusalem, and the Jews here in Caesarea too, they want me to say this man is guilty. They really shouted at me. They said, ‘You have to kill him now.’
25So I asked them, ‘What did he do?’ And I found out that he didn’t do anything bad, so we can’t kill him. But then he asked me to send him to Rome, for our biggest boss to judge him, so now I reckon I will send him to Rome.
26But I can’t think of anything to write about him, to tell our big boss about any bad things he did. So I brought him here. I want you all to hear him tell his story, and I especially want you, Agrippa, to hear him. Then we can ask him some questions, and maybe I will find out something to write about him.
27You see, I reckon it’s not right to send a prisoner to Rome without telling them about something bad that people are blaming him for.”
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