1. Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.
2. There the ruling kohanim and the leading Judeans brought charges against Paul. They were urging him,
3. asking a favor—to have Paul sent to Jerusalem, planning an ambush to kill him on the road.
4. Festus then answered that Paul was being guarded at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to go there shortly.
5. “So then,” he said, “let the prominent men among you go down with me; and if there is any wrong in the man, let them accuse him.”
6. After spending not more than eight to ten days with them, he went down to Caesarea. The next day, he sat on the judgment seat and ordered Paul to be brought in.
7. When he arrived, the Judeans who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing against him many serious charges which they could not prove.
8. Paul said in his defense, “I have committed no offense against the Torah of the Jewish people, or against the Temple, or against Caesar.”
9. But Festus, wanting to do the Jewish leaders a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried before me?”