Text -- Acts 26:29-32 (NET)

26:29 Paul replied, “I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains.” 26:30 So the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them, 26:31 and as they were leaving they said to one another, “This man is not doing anything deserving death or imprisonment.” 26:32 Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Act 26:29

¹ tn BDAG 703 s.v. ὀλίγος 2.b.β has “καὶ ἐν ὀλ. καὶ ἐν μεγάλῳ whether in a short or a long time vs. 29 (cf. B-D-F §195; GWhitaker, The Words of Agrippa to St. Paul: JTS 15, 1914, 82f; AFridrichsen, SymbOsl 14, ’35, 50; Field, Notes 141-43; s. Rob. 653).”

² sn Except for these chains. The chains represented Paul’s unjust suffering for the sake of the message. His point was, in effect, “I do not care how long it takes. I only hope you and everyone else hearing this would become believers in Christ, but without my unjust suffering.”

NET Notes: Act 26:31

¹ tn Grk “they spoke to one another saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

² tn BDAG 93 s.v. ἄξιος 1.b has “θανάτου ἢ δεσμῶν ἄ. nothing deserving death or imprisonment 23:29; 26:31.”

sn Not doing anything deserving death… Here is yet another declaration of Paul’s innocence, but still no release. The portrayal shows how unjust Paul’s confinement was.

NET Notes: Act 26:32

¹ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

² sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

³ tn Or “set free.”

⁴ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

sn If he had not appealed to Caesar. Ultimately Agrippa and Festus blamed what Paul himself had done in appealing to Caesar for his own continued custody. In terms of Luke’s narrative, this still appears unjust and a denial of responsibility.