Acts 23:1-11 - Paul Before The Sanhedrin
1 Paul looked steadily at the council and said, "Brothers, I have done my duty to God with a perfectly clear conscience up to this very day." 2 At this the high priest Ananias ordered the people who were standing nearest to him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you white-washed wall! Do you sit there to try me by the Law, and order them to strike me in violation of the Law?"
4 But the people who stood near him said, "Do you mean to insult God's high priest?"
5 "I did not know, brothers," said Paul, "that he was high priest, for the Scripture says, 'You shall not say anything against any ruler of your people.' " 6 Knowing that part of them were Sadducees and part of them Pharisees, Paul called out in the council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, and the son of Pharisees! It is for my hope for the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial!" 7 When he said that, a dispute arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the meeting was divided. 8 For the Sadducees hold that there is no resurrection and that there are no angels or spirits, while the Pharisees believe in all three.
9 So there was a great uproar, and some scribes of the Pharisees' party got up and insisted, "We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose some spirit or angel really spoke to him!" 10 As the dispute was becoming violent, the colonel began to be afraid that they would tear Paul in pieces, and ordered the soldiers to go down and get him away from them and bring him into the barracks.
11 On the following night the Lord stood beside him and said, "Courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, you must testify in Rome also."