Acts 25:13-22·~1 min

Festus Consults Agrippa

After several days, King Agrippa and Bernice come to Caesarea to greet Festus, and while they stay there he tells the king about the prisoner Felix left behind. Festus recounts how the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem asked for a judgment against Paul, and how he answered that Roman custom requires an accused man to meet his accusers and make his defense.

A¹³fter several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice came down to Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. ¹⁴Since they were staying several days, Festus laid out Paul’s case before the king: “There is a certain man whom Felix left in prison. ¹⁵While I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews presented their case and requested a judgment against him. ¹⁶I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand a man over before he has had an opportunity to face his accusers and defend himself against their charges. ¹⁷So when they came here with me, I did not delay. The next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered that the man be brought in.

Festus says the accusations were not the crimes he expected but disputes about Jewish religion and about a certain Jesus who had died yet whom Paul insists is alive. Unsure how to investigate such matters, he proposed Jerusalem, but Paul appealed to be kept for the Emperor’s decision, so Festus kept him in custody.

¹⁸But when his accusers rose to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. ¹⁹They only had some contentions with him regarding their own religion and a certain Jesus who had died, but whom Paul affirmed to be alive. ²⁰Since I was at a loss as to how to investigate these matters, I asked if he was willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges. ²¹But when Paul appealed to be held over for the decision of the Emperor, I ordered that he be held until I could send him to Caesar.”

Agrippa says he would like to hear the man himself, and Festus tells him that he will hear him the next day.

²²Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man myself.”

Section summaryAfter Agrippa and Bernice arrive, Festus lays out the problem he has inherited: a prisoner left by Felix, pressed by Jewish leaders, accused not of expected crimes but of disputes over religion and over Jesus, whom Paul says is alive. Agrippa asks to hear Paul for himself, giving Festus a new way to clarify the case.

Role in the chapterThis section opens the case outward to another royal-Roman audience. It also states plainly what troubles Festus most: the charges do not fit ordinary criminal categories.