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OET-RV ACTs Chapter 23

OETACTs 23 ©

This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.

23and looking directly at the council members said, “Men, brothers, all my life I have lived before God as a good citizen and with a clean conscience.” 2But Ananias the chief priest commanded one of his companions to whack Paul on the mouth. 3God will strike you,” said Paul, “you grand show-off. You’ve been brought here to judge me as someone who knows the law and yet you violate the law by commanding that I be hit in the face.”

4But the others standing there said, “Are you insulting God’s chief priest?”

5Brothers,” said Paul, “I didn’t realise that he’s the chief priest, because the scriptures teach us not to speak wrongly of our leaders.”

6But then, knowing that the council consisted of some from the sect of the Sadducees and some from the Pharisees’ party, Paul continued loudly, “Men, brothers, like my father, I’m a member of the Pharisees and I’m being tried today concerning the hope and the resurrection of the dead!”

7Well, as soon as he said this, the council was split as the Pharisees and the Sadducees started arguing. 8(Sadducees say that the dead don’t come back to life, and there’s no messengers and no spirits, but the Pharisees believe there is.) 9So then there was a big kerfuffle because some of the teachers of the law spoke up for the Pharisees saying, “We don’t see anything wrong with this man. Maybe it was a spirit or one of God’s messengers that spoke to him.”

10But the Roman commander was afraid that they might tear Paul apart in the big argument, so he called for his soldiers to come down to uplift Paul and return him to the barracks.

11The following night, the master appeared to Paul and told him, “Be brave because just like you testified about me here in Yerushalem, so too you’ll tell them about me in Rome.”

23:12 The plan to kill Paul

12The next day, some of the Jews gathered informally and pledged not to eat or drink until they’d killed Paul. 13There were more than forty of them in this conspiracy, 14and they approached the chief priests and elders and told them, “We’ve made an oath to taste nothing until we’ve killed Paul, otherwise we’ll bring a curse on ourselves. 15So you guys assemble the council and report to the commander so that he’ll bring him down to you all as if you need more information about his actions, and then we’ll have an opportunity to kill before he gets here.

16But a nephew of Paul had heard about this ambush and went in to the barracks to inform Paul. 17Paul then called one of the Roman centurions and told him to take the young man to the commander because he had something to tell him. 18So the centurion took him to the commander, explaining, “The prisoner Paul, called me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to report to you.”

19The commander took the young man by the hand and led him into his private office and asked, “What do you have to tell me?”

20“The Jews have decided to ask you,”, he said, “that tomorrow you bring Paul down to the council as if they wanted to question him further. 21But don’t listen to them because over forty of their men will be lying in wait for him, and they have sworn not to eat or drink until they’ve killed him. In fact, they’re all set up already, just waiting for your consent.”

22The commander told the young man not to tell anyone else about the ambush and dismissed him.

23:23 Paul is escorted away in the night

23Then the commander called in two of his centurions and ordered them to prepare two-hundred soldiers to travel as far as Caesarea, supported by seventy mounted soldiers and two-hundred more with spears. They were to be ready to leave by 9pm, 24along with a horse for Paul to ride, and were to get him safely to Governor Felix. 25Then the commander wrote a letter ready to take:

26“Greetings to the most excellent Governor Felix from Claudius Lysias. 27I’m writing to you about this man who had been captured by the Jews here and they were about to kill him when I moved in with my soldiers because he is a Roman citizen. 28I wanted to know what they were accusing him of, so I took him down to their council meeting, 29but I discovered that it was just some detail about their Jewish law and nothing that should result in death or imprisonment. 30Then when I learnt that they have a plot to try to ambush and kill him, I sent him immediately to you, and I’ll order his accusers to bring their case before you.”

31So the soldiers carried out their instructions and took Paul as far as Antipatris during the night. 32The next morning the foot soldiers returned to the barracks, leaving the mounted soldiers to take him on 33to Caesarea, where they presented Paul to the governor along with the letter. 34After reading the letter the governor asked Paul what province that he’s from and found out that he was from Cilicia. 35Then he ordered Paul to be kept under guard in the prison in Herod’s palace until he would hear from him in the future once his accusers got there.

OETACTs 23 ©

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