And he said unto me, 'The God of our fathers hath ordained thee before, that thou shouldest know his will, and shouldest see that which is rightful, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth:

for you shall be his witness before all men of what you have seen and heard.

Just as they were tying him up [in preparation] for the flogging, Paul said to the officer nearby, "Is it lawful for you to whip a Roman [citizen] before he has been [legally] condemned?"

But, on the morrow, being minded to get to know the certainty as to why he was being accused by the Jews, he released him, and ordered the High-priests and all the High-council to come together; and, bringing down Paul, set him before them.

And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.

"Before long," exclaimed Paul, "God will strike you, you white-washed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me in accordance with the Law, and do you yourself actually break the Law by ordering me to be struck?"

When Paul realized that part [of the Sanhedrin] were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he lifted up his voice before the Council and said, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee. And it is concerning our hope that the dead will be raised that I have been brought to trial."

In the morning, the Jewish leaders formed a conspiracy and took an oath not to eat or drink anything before they had killed Paul.

They went to the high priests and elders and said, "We have taken a solemn oath not to taste any food before we have killed Paul.

So now you, along with the Sanhedrin, make a request to the commander that he bring him down to you as if you were going to investigate his case more thoroughly. However, before he gets near, we are ready to kill him.”

"The Jews have agreed," answered the lad, "to ask you to bring Paul down before the Council to-morrow, on the plea of your making further inquiry into his case.

Don't believe them, because more than 40 of them are planning to ambush him. They've taken an oath not to eat or drink before they've killed him. They are ready now, just waiting for your consent."

Wanting to know the charge they were accusing him of, I brought him down before their Sanhedrin.

But, when I was informed there would be a plot against the man, forthwith, I sent him unto thee, charging, his accusers also, to be speaking against him before thee.

and the others, entering into Caesarea, and delivering the letter unto the governor, set, Paul also, before him.

Five days after the sovereign pontiff Ananias arriv'd and some of the senators, who with one Tertullus a pleader, appear'd before the governour as plaintiffs against Paul.

When Paul was called [to appear before the court] Tertullus began the prosecution by saying, "Your Excellency Felix: Since through you we are able to enjoy peace [in this province] and under your jurisdiction the problems in our society are being [properly] dealt with,

who also attempted to desecrate the temple; whom also we seized.??7 [But the chief captain Lysias came, and with great violence took him away out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come before you;]

ordering his accusers to appear before you. if you please to interrogate him yourself, you will find the whole charge to be truly laid."

And when the governor had motioned for him to speak, Paul answered [the charges, by saying], "I know [Your Excellency] that you have administered justice for this nation for many years, so I am glad to make my defense [before you].

neither are they able to prove before you the things which they are now accusing me.

and having a hope directed towards God, which my accusers themselves also entertain, that before long there will be a resurrection both of the righteous and the unrighteous.

So I am always striving to have a conscience that is clear before God and men.

who ought, before thee, to have presented themselves, and to have been laying accusation, if, anything, they might have had against me: -

Or, let, these themselves, say what wrong they found, when I stood before the High-council, -

or about this one statement I cried out while standing among them, ‘Today I am being judged before you concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”

and the High-priest and chiefs of the Jews laid information before him against Paul, and began to beseech him

Festus replied that Paul would be kept in custody at Caesarea, but that he himself meant to leave for Caesarea before long ??5 "when," he added, "your competent authorities can come down with me and charge the man with whatever crime he has committed."

Having staid above eight, nay ten days, he went to Cesarea, and on the morrow mounting the tribunal, he order'd Paul to be brought before him.

when he appear'd, the Jews, who were come from Jerusalem presented themselves before Festus, and loaded Paul with abundance of accusations, which they were not able to prove.

But, Festus, wishing, with the Jews, to gain, favour, answered Paul, and said - Art thou willing, unto Jerusalem, to go up, and, there, concerning these things, be judged before me?

But Paul said - Standing before the judgment-seat of Caesar, am I, where, I, ought to be judged. Unto the Jews, have I done no wrong, as, even thou, right well, art discovering.

If, then, I am a wrongdoer and there is a cause of death in me, I am ready for death: if it is not as they say against me, no man may give me up to them. Let my cause come before Caesar.

Then Festus, having had a discussion with the Jews, made answer, You have said, Let my cause come before Caesar; to Caesar you will go.

And as they tarried there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the King, saying, There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix;

concerning whom, I being in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews appeared before me, asking condemnation against him;

unto whom made answer - That it is not a custom with Romans, to grant as a favour any man, before the accused, face to face, should have his accusers, and, opportunity of defence, should receive, concerning the charge.

When therefore his accusers had assembled here I did not delay [in dealing with the matter; in fact] the very next day I sat in court and summoned the man to be brought [before me].

But when his accusers appeared before me, they did not charge him with the crimes of which I had been suspecting him.

So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come in full state and had entered the Audience Chamber, with the superior officers and the principal people of the city, by the order of Festus Paul was brought before them.

Then Festus said: "King Agrippa, and all here present, you see before you the man about whom the whole Jewish people have applied to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly asserting that he ought not to be allowed to live.

Concerning whom, anything certain to write unto my lord, I have not; wherefore, I have brought him forth before you, - and especially before thee, King Agrippa! in order that, after examination had, I might have something I could write;

And Agrippa said to Paul, You may put your cause before us. Then Paul, stretching out his hand, made his answer, saying:

Concerning all things of which I am accused by Jews, King Agrippa, I have been counting myself happy, that, before thee, am I about, this day, to be making my defence;

knowing me before from the first, (if they may be willing to testify,) that after the most exact sect of our worship, I lived a Pharisee;

For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.

"At this rate," Agrippa remarked, "it won't be long before you believe you have made a Christian of me!"

“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am—except for these chains.”

And Agrippa said to Festus, This man might have been made free, if he had not put his cause before Caesar.

And as a long time had gone by, and the journey was now full of danger, because it was late in the year, Paul put the position before them,

"Sirs," he said, "I perceive that before long the voyage will be attended with danger and heavy loss, not only to the cargo and the ship but to our own lives also."

But it was not long before a violent wind, which is called a Northeaster, swept down from it.

And the ship being caught and driven, and not able to bring her head to the wind, letting her go we were driven before it.

And having got it up, they put cords under and round the ship; but fearing that they might be pushed on to the Syrtis, they let down the sails and so went running before the wind.

For last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood before me,

saying - Be not afraid, Paul! for, before Caesar, must thou needs stand. And lo! God hath granted to thee as a favour, all them who are sailing with thee.

In the interval before daybreak Paul kept urging them all to take something to eat. "It is a fortnight to-day," he said, "that, owing to your anxiety, you have gone without food, taking nothing.

And, having said these things, and taken a loaf, he gave thanks unto God before all, and, breaking it, began to eat.

Three months passed before we set sail in an Alexandrian vessel, called the 'Twin Brothers,' which had wintered at the island.

They then fixed a day with him, and came to the place where he was staying, in even larger numbers, when Paul proceeded to lay the subject before them. He bore his testimony to the Kingdom of God, and tried to convince them about Jesus, by arguments drawn from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets--speaking from morning till evening.

Unable to agree among themselves, they at last left him, but not before Paul had spoken a parting word to them, saying, "Right well did the Holy Spirit say to your forefathers through the Prophet Isaiah:

which He announced before through His prophets in holy writings --

For all that can be known of God is clearly before them; God has shown it to them.

Then, as they would not keep God before their minds, God abandoned them to depraved thoughts, so that they did all kinds of shameful things.

For one man is not different from another before God.

For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.

For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

What then? do we screen ourselves? Not at all! For we have before accused both Jews and Greeks of being, all under sin;

and the way of peace they have not known; and the fear of God is not before their eyes."

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

Inasmuch as, by works of law, shall no flesh be declared righteous before him, - through law, in fact, is discovery of sin.

But now, without the law, righteousness before God is manifested, being attested by the law and the prophets;

The righteousness, no doubt, which is good before God cometh by the faith of Jesus Christ: unto all, and upon all them that believe.

There is no difference: For all have sinned, and lack the praise that is of valour before God:

whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood, for the shewing forth of his righteousness, in respect of the passing by the sins that had taken place before, through the forbearance of God;

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

How was it reckoned? In the time of circumcision? Or in the time before he was circumcised? Not in time of circumcision: but when he was yet uncircumcised.

Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as God's seal of his right standing with Him on condition of faith which he had before he was circumcised, that he might be the forefather of all who have faith while still uncircumcised, that they might have their faith credited to them as right standing with God;

And that he might be the father of the circumcised: not because they are circumcised only: but because they walk also in the steps of that faith, that was in our father Abraham before the time of circumcision.

Even as it is written - Father of many nations, have I appointed thee: before him whom he believed - God, who causeth the dead to live, and calleth the things that are not as things that are: -

it was for our sakes too. Faith, before long, will be placed to the credit of us also who are believers in Him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,

who was betrayed and crucified because of our sins, and was raised [from the dead] because of our justification [our acquittal—absolving us of all sin before God].

In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law.

I use these familiar human terms because of the limitations of your nature. For just as you before gave up the parts of your bodies in slavery to vice and greater and greater license, you must now give them up in slavery to uprightness, which leads to consecration.

For when we were in the flesh [i.e., before conversion], our sinful desires, aroused by [the restrictions of] the law of Moses, worked in our bodies to produce activity that led to [spiritual] death.

but sin receiving strength by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. for before the law sin appear'd dead.

And I was [once] alive before being aware of the law [i.e., complacent and without a sense of guilt]; but when [awareness of] the commandment [not to sin] came, sin sprang to life,

Now, did something good bring me death? Of course not! But in order that sin might be recognized as being sin, it used something good to cause my death, so that through the rule, sin might become more exposed as being sinful than ever before.

It is *in hope* that we have been saved. But an object of hope is such no longer when it is present to view; for when a man has a thing before his eyes, how can he be said to hope for it?

But when we hope for what is not before our eyes, then we wait for it with patience.

and He who searches the human heart knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, since the Spirit pleads before God for the saints.

for whom he before approv'd, he predispos'd to follow the example of his son, who was to conduct them all as their elder brother;

Moreover, which he appointed before, them he also called; and which he called, them also he justified; which he justified, them he also glorified.

for before they were born, and had done neither good or evil, that the distinction which God had purposed to make might appear to be, not in consideration of their actions, but of his own free call,

For even before the twins were born, and therefore had not done anything good or bad, Rebecca was told [Gen. 25:23], "The older one [i.e., Esau] will serve the younger one [i.e., Jacob]." This was so that God's purpose of choosing and calling [whomever He wanted to] might prevail, instead of [it depending on] what a person did.

and that He might make known the riches of His glory on vessels of kindness, that He before prepared for glory, whom also He did call -- us --

And, even as Isaiah hath before said, - If, the Lord of hosts, had not left us a seed, as Sodom, had we become, and, as Gomorrha, had we been made like.

For they are ignorant of the righteousness which is allowed before God, and go about to establish their own righteousness: and therefore, are not obedient unto the righteousness which is of value before God.

God did not cast away His people whom He knew before; have ye not known -- in Elijah -- what the Writing saith? how he doth plead with God concerning Israel, saying,