1. Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin. "My brothers," he said, "I have always done my duty to God. To this very day I feel that I have done nothing wrong."
2. Ananias the high priest heard this. So he ordered the men standing near Paul to hit him on the mouth.
3. Then Paul said to him, "You pretender! God will hit you! You sit there and judge me by the law. But you yourself broke the law when you commanded them to hit me!"
4. Those who were standing near Paul said, "How dare you talk like that to God's high priest!"
5. Paul replied, "Brothers, I didn't realize he was the high priest. It is written, 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.' " (Exodus 22:28)
6. Paul knew that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees. So he called out in the Sanhedrin. "My brothers," he said, "I am a Pharisee. I am the son of a Pharisee. I believe that people will rise from the dead. That's why I am on trial."
7. When he said this, the Pharisees and the Sadducees started to argue. They began to take sides.
8. The Sadducees say that people will not rise from the dead. They don't believe there are angels or spirits either. But the Pharisees believe all these things.
9. People were causing trouble and making a lot of noise. Some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up. They argued strongly. "We find nothing wrong with this man," they said. "What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"
10. The arguing got out of hand. The commanding officer was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by those who were arguing. So he ordered the soldiers to go down and take him away from them by force. They were supposed to bring him into the fort.
11. The next night the Lord stood near Paul. He said, "Be brave! You have given witness about me in Jerusalem. You must do the same in Rome."
12. The next morning the Jews gathered secretly to make plans against Paul. They took an oath that they would not eat or drink anything until they had killed him.
13. More than 40 men took part in this plan.
14. They went to the chief priests and the elders. They said, "We have taken a strong oath. We have made a special promise to God. We will not eat anything until we have killed Paul.
15. Now then, you and the Sanhedrin must make an appeal to the commanding officer. Ask him to bring Paul to you. Pretend you want more facts about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here."
16. But Paul's nephew heard about this plan. So he went into the fort and told Paul.
17. Then Paul called one of the commanders. He said to him, "Take this young man to the commanding officer. He has something to tell him."
18. So the commander took Paul's nephew to the officer. The commander said, "Paul, the prisoner, sent for me. He asked me to bring this young man to you. The young man has something to tell you."