rusalem, for they were plotting to kill him on the way. But
Festus answered that Paul would be kept in Caesarea and that he himself
was going there in a short time. "Therefore," he said, "let your leading
men go down with me and let them charge the man with whatever crime he
has committed." After staying eight or ten days in Jerusalem, Festus
went back to Caesarea.

The next day Festus took his place on the judgment seat and ordered
Paul to be brought in. When he came, the Jews who had come down from
Jerusalem surrounded him and brought many and serious charges against
him which they were unable to prove. In answer to them Paul said, "I
have committed no crime against the Jewish law or the Temple or the
Emperor."

But as Festus wished to win the favor of the Jews, he interrupted Paul
with the question, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried
before me there on these charges?" Paul said, "I am standing before the
Emperor's judgment seat, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong
to the Jews, as you yourself very well know. If, however, I have broken
the law or have committed any crime that deserves death, I am willing to
die. But if there is no truth in any of their charges against me, then
no man has the right to give me up to them. I appeal to the Emperor!"
After talking with the council, Festus answered, "You have appealed to
the Emperor, to the Emperor you shall go."

After some days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea
to visit Festus. As they remained there for many days, Festus laid
Paul's case before the King. Agrippa said to Festus, "I should like to
hear the man myself." "You shall hear him to-morrow," said Festus. So
the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with much pomp to the court-room,
along with the commanders and the leading citizens; and at the command
of Festus Paul was brought in. And Agrippa said to Paul, "You have
permission to speak for yourself." At this Paul stretched out his hand
and began his defense: "I am happy, King Agrippa, that I am permitted
this day to defend myself before you against all the charges which the
Jews have brought against me, for you know all about the Jewish customs
and questions. So I beg of you to hear me patiently. All the Jews know
the kind of life I lived from my youth, among the men of my own nation
and in Jerusalem. As a Pharisee I lived according to the standards of
the strictest party in our religion. I indeed believed that it