Discovery BoxActs 25:5-6 
Context25:5 “So,” he said, “let your leaders 1 go down there 2 with me, and if this man has done anything wrong, 3 they may bring charges 4 against him.”
25:6 After Festus 5 had stayed 6 not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, 7 and the next day he sat 8 on the judgment seat 9 and ordered Paul to be brought.
1 tn Grk “let those who are influential among you” (i.e., the powerful).
2 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
3 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).
4 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.”
5 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Grk “Having stayed.” The participle διατρίψας (diatriya") has been taken temporally.
7 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.
map For location see Map2 C1; Map4 B3; Map5 F2; Map7 A1; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
8 tn Grk “sitting down…he ordered.” The participle καθίσας (kaqisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
9 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.
sn The judgment seat (βῆμα, bhma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and sometimes furnished with a seat, used by officials in addressing an assembly or making pronouncements, often on judicial matters. The judgment seat was a familiar item in Greco-Roman culture, often located in the agora, the public square or marketplace in the center of a city.
