Acts 25:10

25:10 Paul replied, ¹  “I am standing before Caesar’s ²  judgment seat, ³  where I should be tried. ⁴  I have done nothing wrong ⁵  to the Jews, as you also know very well. ⁶ 

Acts 25:25

25:25 But I found that he had done nothing that deserved death, ⁷  and when he appealed ⁸  to His Majesty the Emperor, ⁹  I decided to send him. ¹⁰ 

Acts 26:32

26:32 Agrippa ¹¹  said to Festus, ¹²  “This man could have been released ¹³  if he had not appealed to Caesar.” ¹⁴ 

Acts 28:19

28:19 But when the Jews objected, ¹⁵  I was forced to appeal to Caesar ¹⁶  – not that I had some charge to bring ¹⁷  against my own people. ¹⁸ 

Acts 28:1

Paul on Malta

28:1 After we had safely reached shore, ¹⁹  we learned that the island was called Malta. ²⁰ 

Acts 27:1

Paul and Company Sail for Rome

27:1 When it was decided we ²¹  would sail to Italy, ²²  they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion ²³  of the Augustan Cohort ²⁴  named Julius.

[25:10]  ¹ tn Grk “said.”

[25:10]  ² tn Or “before the emperor’s” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[25:10]  ³ 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 bema was a standard feature in Greco-Roman cities of the time, there is no need for an alternative translation here. Here of course Paul’s reference to “Caesar’s judgment seat” is a form of metonymy; since Festus is Caesar’s representative, Festus’ judgment seat represents Caesar’s own.

[25:10]  ⁴ tn That is, tried by an imperial representative and subject to Roman law.

[25:10]  ⁵ sn “I have done nothing wrong.” Here is yet another declaration of total innocence on Paul’s part.

[25:10]  ⁶ tn BDAG 506 s.v. καλῶς 7 states, “comp. κάλλιον (for the superl., as Galen, Protr. 8 p. 24, 19J.=p. 10, 31 Kaibel; s. B-D-F §244, 2) ὡς καί σὺ κ. ἐπιγινώσκεις as also you know very well Ac 25:10.”

[25:25]  ⁷ sn He had done nothing that deserved death. Festus’ opinion of Paul’s guilt is like Pilate’s of Jesus (Luke 23:4, 14, 22).

[25:25]  ⁸ tn The participle ἐπικαλεσαμένου (epikalesamenou) has been taken temporally. It could also be translated as causal: “and because he appealed…”

[25:25]  ⁹ tn A designation of the Roman emperor (in this case, Nero). BDAG 917 s.v. σεβαστός states, “ὁ Σεβαστός His Majesty the Emperor Ac 25:21, 25 (of Nero).”

[25:25]  ¹⁰ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[26:32]  ¹¹ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:32]  ¹² sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[26:32]  ¹³ tn Or “set free.”

[26:32]  ¹⁴ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[28:19]  ¹⁵ tn That is, objected to my release.

[28:19]  ¹⁶ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[28:19]  ¹⁷ 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.’”

[28:19]  ¹⁸ tn Or “my own nation.”

[28:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “We having been brought safely through” [to land] (same verb as 27:44). The word “shore” is implied, and the slight variations in translation from 27:44 have been made to avoid redundancy in English. The participle διασωθέντες (diaswqente") has been taken temporally.

[28:1]  ²⁰ sn Malta is an island (known by the same name today) in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily. The ship had traveled 625 mi (1,000 km) in the storm.

[27:1]  ²¹ sn The last “we” section in Acts begins here and extends to 28:16 (the previous one ended at 21:18).

[27:1]  ²² sn Sail to Italy. This voyage with its difficulty serves to show how God protected Paul on his long journey to Rome. From the perspective of someone in Palestine, this may well picture “the end of the earth” quite literally (cf. Acts 1:8).

[27:1]  ²³ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:1]  ²⁴ tn According to BDAG 917 s.v. σεβαστός, “In σπεῖρα Σεβαστή 27:1 (cp. OGI 421) Σεβαστή is likew. an exact transl. of Lat. Augusta, an honorary title freq. given to auxiliary troops (Ptolem. renders it Σεβαστή in connection w. three legions that bore it: 2, 3, 30; 2, 9, 18; 4, 3, 30) imperial cohort.” According to W. Foerster (TDNT 7:175), “In Ac. 27:1 the σπεῖρα Σεβαστή is an expression also found elsewhere for ‘auxiliary troops.’” In no case would this refer to a special imperial bodyguard, and to translate “imperial regiment” or “imperial cohort” might give this impression. There is some archaeological evidence for a Cohors Augusta I stationed in Syria during the time of Augustus, but whether this is the same unit is very debatable.