Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



Then he summoned two centurions and ordered, "Get 200 soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea at nine o'clock tonight, along with 70 mounted soldiers and 200 soldiers with spears. Provide a mount for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Governor Felix." He wrote a letter with this message: read more.
"From: Claudius Lysias To: Governor Felix Greetings, Your Excellency: This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I went with the guard and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. I wanted to know the exact charge they were making against him, so I had him brought before their Council. I found that, although he was charged with questions about their Law, there was no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment. Since a plot against the man has been reported to me, I'm sending him to you at once, and I've also ordered his accusers to present their charges against him before you." So the soldiers, in keeping with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. The next day, they let the horsemen ride with Paul while they returned to their barracks. When these men came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. After reading the letter, the governor asked which province Paul was from. On learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.


Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the tribune, because he has something to tell him." So the centurion took him, brought him to the tribune, and said, "The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you." The tribune took him by the hand, stepped aside to be alone with him, and asked, "What have you got to tell me?" read more.
He answered, "The Jewish leaders have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Council tomorrow as though they were going to examine his case more carefully. 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." The tribune dismissed the young man and ordered him not to tell anyone that he had notified him. Then he summoned two centurions and ordered, "Get 200 soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea at nine o'clock tonight, along with 70 mounted soldiers and 200 soldiers with spears. Provide a mount for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Governor Felix." He wrote a letter with this message: "From: Claudius Lysias To: Governor Felix Greetings, Your Excellency: This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I went with the guard and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. I wanted to know the exact charge they were making against him, so I had him brought before their Council. I found that, although he was charged with questions about their Law, there was no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment. Since a plot against the man has been reported to me, I'm sending him to you at once, and I've also ordered his accusers to present their charges against him before you." So the soldiers, in keeping with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. The next day, they let the horsemen ride with Paul while they returned to their barracks. When these men came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. After reading the letter, the governor asked which province Paul was from. On learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.


The quarrel was becoming violent, and the tribune was afraid that they would tear Paul to pieces. So he ordered the soldiers to go down, take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks. That night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Have courage! For just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, you must testify in Rome, too." In the morning, the Jewish leaders formed a conspiracy and took an oath not to eat or drink anything before they had killed Paul. read more.
More than 40 men formed this conspiracy. 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 then, you and the Council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you on the pretext that you want to look into his case more carefully, but before he arrives we'll be ready to kill him." But the son of Paul's sister heard about the ambush, so he came and got into the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the tribune, because he has something to tell him." So the centurion took him, brought him to the tribune, and said, "The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you." The tribune took him by the hand, stepped aside to be alone with him, and asked, "What have you got to tell me?" He answered, "The Jewish leaders have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Council tomorrow as though they were going to examine his case more carefully. 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." The tribune dismissed the young man and ordered him not to tell anyone that he had notified him. Then he summoned two centurions and ordered, "Get 200 soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea at nine o'clock tonight, along with 70 mounted soldiers and 200 soldiers with spears. Provide a mount for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Governor Felix." He wrote a letter with this message: "From: Claudius Lysias To: Governor Felix Greetings, Your Excellency: This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I went with the guard and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. I wanted to know the exact charge they were making against him, so I had him brought before their Council. I found that, although he was charged with questions about their Law, there was no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment. Since a plot against the man has been reported to me, I'm sending him to you at once, and I've also ordered his accusers to present their charges against him before you." So the soldiers, in keeping with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. The next day, they let the horsemen ride with Paul while they returned to their barracks. When these men came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. After reading the letter, the governor asked which province Paul was from. On learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.


Provide a mount for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Governor Felix." He wrote a letter with this message: "From: Claudius Lysias To: Governor Felix Greetings, Your Excellency: read more.
This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I went with the guard and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. I wanted to know the exact charge they were making against him, so I had him brought before their Council. I found that, although he was charged with questions about their Law, there was no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment. Since a plot against the man has been reported to me, I'm sending him to you at once, and I've also ordered his accusers to present their charges against him before you." So the soldiers, in keeping with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. The next day, they let the horsemen ride with Paul while they returned to their barracks. When these men came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. After reading the letter, the governor asked which province Paul was from. On learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.


Now Herod had been in a violent quarrel with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him as a group. After they had won over Blastus, who oversaw security for the king's sleeping quarters, they asked for a peace agreement because their country depended on the king's country for food.

About that time, Herod arrested some people who belonged to the church and mistreated them.

he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.


Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. read more.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.


Meanwhile, Elisha urged the woman whose son he had restored to life, "You must get up and leave with your household to go live wherever you can, because the LORD has called for a famine, and it's going to come over the land for seven years." So the woman followed the instructions given to her by the man of God, and she went to the territory of the Philistines to live for seven years with her household. At the end of the seven years, the woman returned from the territory of the Philistines and went to the king in order to file an appeal regarding her house and her grain field. read more.
The king was talking with Gehazi, the attendant of the man of God. He had asked Gehazi, "Please tell me about all of the great things that Elisha has done." Just as he was telling the king about Elisha's having restored the dead to life, the woman whose son had been restored arrived and appealed to the king for her house and her land! Gehazi told the king, "Your majesty, this is the woman! And here's her son, whom Elisha restored to life!" The king consulted with the woman, who related the story. So the king appointed a court official to represent her and ordered him: "Restore to her everything that belonged to her, including all of the produce that her fields yielded from the day she left the land until now."

Then he would get up early, stand near the passageway to the palace gate, and when anyone arrived to file a legal complaint for a hearing before the king, Absalom would call to him and ask, "You're from what city?" If he replied, "Your servant is from one of Israel's tribes,"

And blessed be the LORD your God, who is delighted with you! He set you in place on the throne of Israel because the LORD loved Israel forever. That's why he made you to be king, so you could carry out justice and implement righteousness."

God, endow the king with ability to render your justice, and the king's son to render your right decisions. May he rule your people with right decisions and your oppressed ones with justice. May the mountains bring prosperity to the people and the hills bring righteousness. read more.
May he defend the afflicted of the people and deliver the children of the poor, but crush the oppressor.

Meanwhile, Jesus was made to stand in front of the governor. The governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus said, "You say so." While Jesus was being accused by the high priests and elders, he made no reply. Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear how many charges they're bringing against you?" read more.
But Jesus did not reply at all, so that the governor was very surprised. At every festival the governor had a custom of releasing to the crowd any prisoner whom they wanted. At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. So when the people had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which man do you want me to release for you Barabbas, or Jesus who is called "the Messiah'?" He did this because he knew that they had handed him over out of jealousy. While he was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him a message that said, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, because today I have suffered terribly due to a dream I had about him." But the high priests and elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to demand that Jesus be put to death. So the governor asked them, "Which of the two men do you want me to release for you?" "Barabbas!" they replied. Pilate asked them, "Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!" He asked, "What has he done wrong?" But they kept shouting louder and louder, "Let him be crucified!" Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was about to break out instead. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. Attend to that yourselves." All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and our children!" Then he released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

After reading the letter, the governor asked which province Paul was from. On learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.

If I'm guilty and have done something that deserves death, I'm willing to die. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can hand me over to them as a favor. I appeal to the emperor!" Festus talked it over with the council and then answered, "To the emperor you have appealed; to the emperor you will go!"


he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.


Then Jesus was led from Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters early in the morning. The Jews did not go into the headquarters, to avoid becoming unclean and unable to eat the Passover meal.

So Pilate went back into the governor's headquarters, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

Returning to his headquarters, he asked Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus did not answer him.

he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the imperial headquarters and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.

The soldiers led Jesus into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters) and called out the whole guard.

As a result, it has become clear to the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that I am in prison for preaching about the Messiah.


he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.

I answered them that it was not the Roman custom to sentence a man to be punished until the accused met his accusers face to face and had an opportunity to defend himself against the charge. So they came here with me, and the next day without any delay I sat down in the judge's seat and ordered the man to be brought in. When his accusers stood up, they didn't accuse him of any of the crimes I was expecting. read more.
Instead, they had several arguments with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died but Paul kept asserting he was alive.