Acts 25:4-5

25:4 Then Festus ¹  replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, ²  and he himself intended to go there ³  shortly. 25:5 “So,” he said, “let your leaders ⁴  go down there ⁵  with me, and if this man has done anything wrong, ⁶  they may bring charges ⁷  against him.”

¹ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

² sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.

³ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

⁴ tn Grk “let those who are influential among you” (i.e., the powerful).

⁵ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

⁶ tn Grk “and if there is anything wrong with this man,” but this could be misunderstood in English to mean a moral or physical defect, while the issue in context is the commission of some crime, something legally improper (BDAG 149 s.v. ἄτοπος 2).

⁷ tn BDAG 533 s.v. κατηγορέω 1 states, “nearly always as legal t.t.: bring charges in court.” L&N 33.427 states for κατηγορέω, “to bring serious charges or accusations against someone, with the possible connotation of a legal or court context – ‘to accuse, to bring charges.”