Paul looked intently at the council and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience to this day.”
The high priest Ananias commanded those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.
Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?”
The bystanders said, “Do you insult God's high priest?”
Paul replied, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”
Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am being judged for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”
When he said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; the assembly was divided.
For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess all of these.
Then a loud shouting arose, and the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and argued vehemently, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”
When there was a great uproar, the tribune, fearing that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered the soldiers to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.
The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
When day came, some of the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.
There were more than forty who made this conspiracy.
They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Paul.
Now you, along with the council, should notify the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you wanted to investigate his case more accurately. We are ready to kill him before he arrives.”
But Paul's sister's son heard of the ambush, and he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.
Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.”
So he took him and brought him to the tribune.
The young man said, “Some Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him.
But don't believe them. For more than forty have formed a conspiracy against him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent.”
The tribune then dismissed the young man and ordered him not to tell anyone that he had informed him of this.
Then he summoned two of his centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night,
and provide mounts for Paul so that he may be safely taken to Felix the governor.”
The soldiers followed this order, and they took Paul by night and brought him safely to Caesarea.
The next day they delivered the letter to the governor and presented Paul before him.
The governor read the letter and asked what province Paul was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia,
he said, “I will hear you when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered Paul to be kept under guard in Herod's palace.
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