Daily Text and Bible Reading: Wednesday, November 27 [Press play below]

24.1 Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a public speaker named Tertullus, and they presented their case against Paul to the governor.
24.2 When he was called, Tertullus started accusing him, saying: “Seeing that we enjoy great peace through you and that through your forethought reforms are taking place in this nation,
24.3 at all times and also in all places we acknowledge this, Your Excellency Felix, with the greatest thankfulness.
24.4 But that I may not detain you any further, I beg you to hear us briefly in your kindness.
24.5 For we have found this man to be a pest, stirring up seditions among all the Jews throughout the inhabited earth, and he is a spearhead of the sect of the Nazarenes.
24.6 He also tried to profane the temple, so we seized him.
24.7 ——
24.8 When you examine him yourself, you will find out about all these things of which we are accusing him.”
24.9 With that the Jews also joined in the attack, asserting that these things were true.
24.10 When the governor nodded to Paul to speak, he answered: “Knowing well that this nation has had you as judge for many years, I readily speak in my own defense.
24.11 As you can verify for yourself, it has not been more than 12 days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem;
24.12 and they found me neither arguing with anyone in the temple nor stirring up a mob, either in the synagogues or throughout the city.
24.13 Nor can they prove to you the things they are accusing me of right now.
24.14 But I do admit this to you, that according to the way that they call a sect, in this manner I am rendering sacred service to the God of my forefathers, as I believe all the things set forth in the Law and written in the Prophets.
24.15 And I have hope toward God, which hope these men also look forward to, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.
24.16 Because of this I always strive to maintain a clear conscience before God and men.
24.17 Now after quite a number of years, I arrived to bring gifts of mercy to my nation and to make offerings.
24.18 While I was caring for these matters, they found me ceremonially cleansed in the temple, but not with a crowd or causing a disturbance. But there were some Jews from the province of Asia
24.19 who ought to be present before you to accuse me if they actually have anything against me.
24.20 Or let the men here say for themselves what wrong they found as I stood before the Sanhedrin,
24.21 except for this one thing that I cried out while standing among them: ‘Over the resurrection of the dead I am today being judged before you!’”
24.22 However, Felix, knowing quite well the facts concerning this Way, began to put them off and say: “Whenever Lysias the military commander comes down, I will decide these matters involving you.”
24.23 And he gave orders to the army officer that the man be kept under arrest but given some freedom, and that his people be allowed to attend to his needs.
24.24 Some days later Felix came with Drusilla his wife, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and listened to him speak about the belief in Christ Jesus.
24.25 But as Paul talked about righteousness and self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and answered: “Go away for now, but when I have an opportunity I will send for you again.”
24.26 At the same time he was hoping that Paul would give him money. For that reason, he sent for him even more frequently and conversed with him.
24.27 But when two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and because Felix desired to gain favor with the Jews, he left Paul in custody.
25.1 Therefore Festus, after arriving in the province and taking charge, went up three days later to Jerusalem from Caesarea.
25.2 And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews gave him information against Paul. So they began to beg Festus
25.3 as a favor to send for Paul to come to Jerusalem. But they were planning to ambush Paul and kill him along the road.
25.4 However, Festus answered that Paul was to be kept in Caesarea and that he himself was about to go back there shortly.
25.5 “So let those who are in power among you,” he said, “come down with me and accuse him if, indeed, the man has done something wrong.”
25.6 So when he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day he sat down on the judgment seat and commanded Paul to be brought in.
25.7 When he came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing against him many serious charges that they were unable to prove.
25.8 But Paul said in defense: “Neither against the Law of the Jews nor against the temple nor against Caesar have I committed any sin.”
25.9 Festus, desiring to gain favor with the Jews, said in reply to Paul: “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and be judged before me there concerning these things?”
25.10 But Paul said: “I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where I ought to be judged. I have done no wrong to the Jews, of which you are also becoming well-aware.
25.11 If I am really a wrongdoer and have committed anything deserving of death, I do not beg off from dying; but if there is no substance to the accusations these men have made against me, no man has the right to hand me over to them as a favor. I appeal to Caesar!”
25.12 Then Festus, after speaking with the assembly of counselors, replied: “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you will go.”
25.13 After some days had passed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived in Caesarea for a courtesy visit to Festus.
25.14 Since they were spending a number of days there, Festus presented Paul’s case to the king, saying: “There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix,
25.15 and when I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought information about him, asking for a judgment of condemnation against him.
25.16 But I replied to them that it is not Roman procedure to hand any man over as a favor before the accused man meets his accusers face-to-face and gets a chance to speak in his defense concerning the complaint.
25.17 So when they arrived here, I did not delay, but the next day I sat down on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in.
25.18 Taking the stand, the accusers did not charge him with any of the wicked things I had expected concerning him.
25.19 They simply had certain disputes with him concerning their own worship of the deity and concerning a man named Jesus, who was dead but who Paul kept asserting was alive.
25.20 Being at a loss as to how to handle this dispute, I asked if he would like to go to Jerusalem and be judged there concerning these matters.
25.21 But when Paul appealed to be kept in custody for the decision by the August One, I commanded him to be held until I should send him on to Caesar.”
25.22 Agrippa then said to Festus: “I would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you will hear him.”
25.23 So the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with much pompous show and entered the audience chamber together with military commanders as well as the prominent men in the city; and when Festus gave the command, Paul was brought in.
25.24 And Festus said: “King Agrippa and all you who are present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish populace have petitioned me both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.
25.25 But I perceived that he had done nothing deserving of death. So when this man himself appealed to the August One, I decided to send him.
25.26 But I have nothing certain to write about him to my Lord. So I brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the judicial examination has taken place, I might have something to write.
25.27 For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner and not also to indicate the charges against him.”
26.1 Agrippa said to Paul: “You are permitted to speak in your own behalf.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to say in his defense:
26.2 “Concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself happy that it is before you I am to make my defense this day,
26.3 especially because you are an expert on all the customs as well as the controversies among the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to hear me patiently.
26.4 “Indeed, the manner of life I led from youth up among my people and in Jerusalem is well-known by all the Jews
26.5 who were previously acquainted with me, if they would be willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our form of worship, I lived as a Pharisee.
26.6 But now for the hope of the promise that was made by God to our forefathers, I stand on trial;
26.7 this is the same promise our 12 tribes are hoping to see fulfilled by intensely rendering him sacred service night and day. Concerning this hope I am accused by Jews, O King.
26.8 “Why is it considered unbelievable among you that God raises up the dead?
26.9 I, for one, was convinced that I should commit many acts of opposition against the name of Jesus the Nazarene.
26.10 This is exactly what I did in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the holy ones in prisons, for I had received authority from the chief priests; and when they were to be executed, I cast my vote against them.
26.11 By punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to recant; and since I was extremely furious with them, I went so far as to persecute them even in outlying cities.
26.12 “While doing this as I was traveling to Damascus with authority and a commission from the chief priests,
26.13 I saw at midday on the road, O King, a light beyond the brilliance of the sun flash from heaven around me and around those traveling with me.
26.14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice say to me in the Hebrew language: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? To keep kicking against the goads makes it hard for you.’
26.15 But I said: ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said: ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
26.16 But rise and stand on your feet. This is why I have appeared to you, to choose you as a servant and a witness both of things you have seen and things I will make you see respecting me.
26.17 And I will rescue you from this people and from the nations, to whom I am sending you
26.18 to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by their faith in me.’
26.19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I did not become disobedient to the heavenly vision,
26.20 but to those in Damascus first and then to those in Jerusalem, and over all the country of Judea, and also to the nations, I was bringing the message that they should repent and turn to God by doing works that befit repentance.
26.21 This is why the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.
26.22 However, because I have experienced the help that is from God, I continue to this day bearing witness to both small and great, saying nothing except what the Prophets as well as Moses stated was going to take place—
26.23 that the Christ was to suffer and that as the first to be resurrected from the dead, he was going to proclaim light both to this people and to the nations.”
26.24 Now as Paul was saying these things in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice: “You are going out of your mind, Paul! Great learning is driving you out of your mind!”
26.25 But Paul said: “I am not going out of my mind, Your Excellency Festus, but I am speaking words of truth and of a sound mind.
26.26 For a fact, the king to whom I am speaking so freely well knows about these things; I am convinced that not one of these things escapes his notice, for none of this has been done in a corner.
26.27 Do you, King Agrippa, believe the Prophets? I know that you believe.”
26.28 But Agrippa said to Paul: “In a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian.”
26.29 At this Paul said: “I wish to God that whether in a short time or in a long time, not only you but also all those who hear me today would become men such as I am, with the exception of these prison bonds.”
26.30 Then the king rose and so did the governor and Bernice and the men seated with them.
26.31 But as they were leaving, they began saying to one another: “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or prison bonds.”
26.32 Agrippa then said to Festus: “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”