Acts 25:13-21

¹³Several days later, King Agrippa and his sister Bernice arrived in Caesarea and came to pay their respects to Festus.

¹⁴They were staying some time so Festus presented Paul's case to the king, explaining, “There's a man that Felix left as a prisoner here.

¹⁵When I was in Jerusalem, the Jewish chief priests and leaders came and made accusations against him and asked me to sentence him.

¹⁶I replied that it is not according to Roman law to convict anyone without having them face their accusers and giving them the opportunity to defend themselves against the charges.

¹⁷So when his accusers arrived here, I wasted no time and convened the court the very next day. I ordered the man to be brought in.

¹⁸However, when the accusers got up they didn't bring charges of criminal acts as I expected.

¹⁹Instead they brought up controversies over religious questions, and over a man called Jesus who was dead but whom Paul insisted was alive.

²⁰Since I was undecided as to how to proceed in investigating such matters, I asked him if he was willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there.

²¹However, Paul appealed for his case to be heard by the emperor, so I ordered him detained until I could send him to Caesar.”