Acts 25:6-8

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 

[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.

[25:7]  ⁶ tn BDAG 801 s.v. περιίστημι 1.a has “περιέστησαν αὐτὸν οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι the Judeans stood around him 25:7.”

[25:7]  ⁷ tn Grk “many and serious.” The term βαρύς (barus) refers to weighty or serious charges (BDAG 167 s.v. 1).

[25:7]  ⁸ tn The term ἀποδείκνυμι (apodeiknumi) in a legal context refers to legal proof (4 Macc 1:8; BDAG 108 s.v. 3).

[25:8]  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.”

[25:8]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “I have sinned…in nothing.”

[25:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “against the law of the Jews.” Here τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[25:8]  ¹² tn Or “against the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).