Acts 25:6

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.

Acts 25:10

25:10 Paul replied, ⁶  “I am standing before Caesar’s ⁷  judgment seat, ⁸  where I should be tried. ⁹  I have done nothing wrong ¹⁰  to the Jews, as you also know very well. ¹¹ 

[25:6]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:6]  ² tn Grk “Having stayed.” The participle διατρίψας (diatriya") has been taken temporally.

[25:6]  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.

[25:6]  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.

[25:6]  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.

[25:10]  ⁶ tn Grk “said.”

[25:10]  ⁷ tn Or “before the emperor’s” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[25:10]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn That is, tried by an imperial representative and subject to Roman law.

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

[25:10]  ¹¹ 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.”