Acts 24:1-21 - Paul Before Felix At Caesarea Maritima

¹ And after five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney, a certain Tertullus, all of whom brought charges against Paul to the governor. ² And [when] he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse [him], saying, "We have experienced much peace through you, and reforms are taking place in this nation through your foresight. ³ Both in every [way] and everywhere we acknowledge [this], most excellent Felix, with all gratitude. ⁴ But so that I may not impose on you for longer, I implore you to hear us briefly with your [customary] graciousness. ⁵ For we have found this man [to be] a public menace and one who causes riots among all the Jews throughout the Roman Empire and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, ⁶ who even attempted to desecrate the temple, and we arrested {him}. ⁸ [When] you yourself examine [him] you will be able to find out from {him} about all these [things] of which we are accusing him." ⁹ And the Jews also joined in the attack, asserting these [things] were so.

¹⁰ And [when] the governor gestured for him to speak, Paul replied, "[Because I] know you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I defend myself cheerfully [with respect to] the things concerning myself. ¹¹ You can ascertain that {it has not been more than} twelve days {since} I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ¹² And neither did they find me arguing with anyone or making a crowd develop in the temple [courts] nor in the synagogues nor throughout the city. ¹³ Nor can they prove [the things] to you concerning which they are now accusing me. ¹⁴ But I do confess this to you, that according to the Way (which they call a sect), so I worship the God of our fathers, believing all things [that are] in accordance with the law and that are written in the prophets, ¹⁵ having a hope in God which these [men] also themselves await: [that] there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. ¹⁶ {For this reason} also myself {always} do my best to have a clear conscience toward God and people. ¹⁷ So after many years, I came to practice charitable giving and offerings to my people, ¹⁸ in which they found me purified in the temple [courts], not with a crowd or with a disturbance. ¹⁹ But [there are] some Jews from Asia who ought to be present before you and bring charges against [me], if they have anything against me, ²⁰ or these [men] themselves should say what crime they found [when] I stood before the Sanhedrin, ²¹ other than concerning this one declaration that I shouted [while] standing there before them: 'I am being judged before you today concerning the resurrection of the dead!'"