and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your acts of charity have been remembered before God.

(When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter.) Then Paul said,

Agrippa said to Festus, “I would also like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he replied, “you will hear him.”

But Paul replied, “I have not lost my mind, most excellent Festus, but am speaking true and rational words.

Now as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water! What is to stop me from being baptized?”

“So,” he said, “let your leaders go down there with me, and if this man has done anything wrong, they may bring charges against him.”

As Paul was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed loudly, “You have lost your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!”

After the city secretary quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven?

So the centurion took him and brought him to the commanding officer and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”

Then Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all you who are present here with us, you see this man about whom the entire Jewish populace petitioned me both in Jerusalem and here, shouting loudly that he ought not to live any longer.