The Trial Before Festus Three days after arriving in the
province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, where the
chief priests and Jewish leaders appeared before him and
presented the charges against Paul. They urgently requested
Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to
Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along
the way. Festus answered, "Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I
myself am going there soon. Let some of your leaders come with
me and press charges against the man there, if he has done
anything wrong." After spending eight or ten days with them, he
went down to Caesarea, and the next day he convened the court
and ordered that Paul be brought before him. When Paul appeared,
the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him,
bringing many serious charges against him, which they could not
prove. Then Paul made his defense: "I have done nothing wrong
against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against
Caesar." Festus, wishing to do the Jews a f