[They were]: Annas, the head priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the head priest's family [members].

But the head priest and the Jewish sect of the Sadducees became very jealous,

And when the apostles heard this, they entered the Temple about dawn and began teaching [about Jesus]. [A little later] the head priest and the Sadducees [see verse 17] called the Council [i.e., the Sanhedrin] and all of the ruling body of Jewish leaders together and sent to the jail to have the apostles brought in to them [for further questioning].

And so they brought them in [to their headquarters] to appear before the Council [for questioning]. The head priest spoke to them, [saying],

Then the head priest asked [Stephen], "Are these charges true?"

With every breath [it seemed], Saul [expressed his desire to] threaten and murder the Lord's disciples and [even] went to the head priest

Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance of the city, brought bulls and wreaths of flowers to the gates [of the heathen temple], wanting to offer [animal] sacrifices on behalf of the crowds.

[Now] the seven sons of a Jewish leading priest named Sceva were doing this.

Then Paul took the men and the next day he observed the ceremony of purification with them. Then he went into the Temple, declaring [to the priest] when he would fulfill the [required] days of the purification [ceremony] and [be ready] for the sacrifices to be offered for each of them.

The head priest can also verify all this, and so can the body of [Jewish] elders. They furnished me with letters to our fellow-Jews in Damascus, to which I also traveled to bring people back here to Jerusalem, bound in chains to be punished.

[Upon hearing this], the head priest Ananias ordered that those standing closest to Paul hit him on the mouth.

Then Paul said to the head priest, "God will hit you, you white-washed wall [i.e., you hypocrite]. Are you sitting in judgment over me according to the law of Moses and [yet] do you order me to be hit contrary to that law?"

Those who stood nearby replied, "Are you insulting God's head priest?"

Paul said, "Brothers, I did not know that he was the head priest, for it is written [Ex. 22:28], 'You shall not speak evil about a leader of your people.' "

Five days later the head priest, Ananias, came down [to Caesarea] with certain [Jewish] elders and an attorney [named] Tertullus, who brought their case against Paul before the governor.