Acts 25:3-5

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

Acts 25:9

25:9 But Festus, 11  wanting to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried 12  before me there on these charges?” 13 

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.

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.

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.

sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

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.

tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

tn Grk “let those who are influential among you” (i.e., the powerful).

tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

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).

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.”

11 sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

12 tn Or “stand trial.”

13 tn Grk “concerning these things.”