Acts 25:4-6

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.”

25:6 After Festus ⁸  had stayed ⁹  not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, ¹⁰  and the next day he sat ¹¹  on the judgment seat ¹²  and ordered Paul to be brought.

[25:4]  ¹ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[25:4]  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.

[25:4]  ³ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[25:5]  ⁴ tn Grk “let those who are influential among you” (i.e., the powerful).

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

[25:5]  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).

[25:5]  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.”

[25:6]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:6]  ⁸ tn Grk “Having stayed.” The participle διατρίψας (diatriya") has been taken temporally.

[25:6]  ⁹ 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.

[25:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “sitting down…he ordered.” The participle καθίσας (kaqisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[25:6]  ¹¹ 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.