Acts 25:3-5

25:3 Requesting him to do them a favor against Paul, ¹  they urged Festus ²  to summon him to Jerusalem, planning an ambush ³  to kill him along the way. 25:4 Then Festus ⁴  replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, ⁵  and he himself intended to go there ⁶  shortly. 25:5 “So,” he said, “let your leaders ⁷  go down there ⁸  with me, and if this man has done anything wrong, ⁹  they may bring charges ¹⁰  against him.”

[25:3]  ¹ tn Grk “Requesting a favor against him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation, the understood direct object of “requesting” has been supplied, and the phrase “to do them” supplied for clarity.

[25:3]  ² tn Grk “him”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The words “they urged him” are in v. 2 in the Greek text.

[25:3]  ³ sn Planning an ambush. The Jewish leadership had not forgotten the original plan of several years ago (see 23:16). They did not trust the Roman legal process, but preferred to take matters into their own hands.

[25:4]  ⁴ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[25:4]  ⁵ 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.

[25:4]  ⁶ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[25:5]  ⁷ tn Grk “let those who are influential among you” (i.e., the powerful).

[25:5]  ⁸ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[25:5]  ⁹ 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).

[25:5]  ¹⁰ 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.”