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 are to be a witness for him before all men, a witness 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?"

On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and 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.

Now therefore do ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you, as though ye would judge of his case more exactly: and we, before he comes near, are ready to slay 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."

And wanting to know the exact charge which they were making against him, I brought him down to their Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court);

And when it was told me how that the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they had against him. Farewell.

Who, when they came to Caesarea, and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him.

And after five days came down the high priest Ananias, with the elders, and a certain orator called Tertullus, and laid their informations against Paul before the governor.

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;]

commanding his accusers to come before thee. from whom thou wilt be able, by examining him thyself, to take knowledge of all these things whereof we accuse him.

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.

And in this, I do my best at all times to have no reason for shame before God or men.

Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they had ought against me.

Or else let these same here say, if they have found any evil doing in me, while I stood before the council,

except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question before you this day.

And the chief priests and the chief of the Jews laid informations before him against Paul, and besought 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."

Now after Festus had spent no more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on the tribunal (the judicial bench), and ordered 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, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me?

But Paul said, I am standing before Caesar's judgment-seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou also very well knowest.

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;

When I was at Jerusalem, the leading priests and the Jewish elders presented his case before me to make a judgment against him.

To whom I answered, It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.

So after they arrived together here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my place on the tribunal and ordered that the man 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.

Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. Wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially before thee, O king Agrippa, that, after examination had, I might have somewhat to write.

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

I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:

who knew me before from the outset of my life, if they would bear witness, that according to the strictest sect of our religion 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 before long, a stormy wind beat down from shore, which is called Euroclydon.

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 this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me,

Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail 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 to God before all, and having broken 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.

They disagreed among themselves and they began to leave after Paul had made one last statement: “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying,

(which he had before promised by 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 not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

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

What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are 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.

Wherefore by works of law no flesh shall be justified before him; for by law is knowledge 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 then was it credited [to him]? Was it after he had been circumcised, or before? Not after, but while [he was] uncircumcised.

Before, not after. And he received circumcision as a sign, a mark attesting the reality of the faith-righteousness which was his while still uncircumcised, that he might be the forefather of all those who believe even though they are uncircumcised--in order that this righteousness might be placed to their credit;

and [that he would be] the [spiritual] father of those circumcised who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had before he was circumcised.

(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

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].

Sin was [committed] in the world before the Law [was given], but sin is not charged [against anyone] when there is no law [against it].

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 hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes [before God] on behalf of God’s people in accordance with God’s will.

Because those of whom he had knowledge before they came into existence, were marked out by him to be made like his Son, so that he might be the first among a band of brothers:

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

Before the children had come into existence, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and his selection might be effected, not by works, but by him whose purpose it is,

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 upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory,

And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

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,