25:6 After Festus 1 had stayed 2 not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, 3 and the next day he sat 4 on the judgment seat 5 and ordered Paul to be brought. 25:7 When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, 6 bringing many serious 7 charges that they were not able to prove. 8 25:8 Paul said in his defense, 9 “I have committed no offense 10 against the Jewish law 11 or against the temple or against Caesar.” 12
1 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Grk “Having stayed.” The participle διατρίψας (diatriya") has been taken temporally.
3 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.
4 tn Grk “sitting down…he ordered.” The participle καθίσας (kaqisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
5 tn Although BDAG 175 s.v. βῆμα 3 gives the meaning “tribunal” for this verse, and a number of modern translations use similar terms (“court,” NIV; “tribunal,” NRSV), since the bhma was a standard feature in Greco-Roman cities of the time, there is no need for an alternative translation here.
6 tn BDAG 801 s.v. περιίστημι 1.a has “περιέστησαν αὐτὸν οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι the Judeans stood around him 25:7.”
7 tn Grk “many and serious.” The term βαρύς (barus) refers to weighty or serious charges (BDAG 167 s.v. 1).
8 tn The term ἀποδείκνυμι (apodeiknumi) in a legal context refers to legal proof (4 Macc 1:8; BDAG 108 s.v. 3).
9 tn Grk “Paul saying in his defense”; the participle ἀπολογουμένου (apologoumenou) could be taken temporally (“when Paul said…”), but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle was translated as a finite verb and a new sentence begun here in the translation. BDAG 116-17 s.v. ἀπολογέομαι has “W. ὅτι foll. τοῦ Παύλου ἀπολογουμένου, ὅτι when Paul said in his defense (direct quot. foll.) Ac 25:8.”
10 tn Grk “I have sinned…in nothing.”
11 tn Grk “against the law of the Jews.” Here τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων has been translated as an attributive genitive.
12 tn Or “against the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).