Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Court » Accused spoke in his own defense
Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. The God of our forefathers raised Jesus to life when you had hung him on a cross and killed him. God took him up to his right hand as our leader and savior, in order to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. read more.
We and the holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey him are witnesses to these things."
We and the holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey him are witnesses to these things."
So they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all about the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, "You must decide whether it is right in the sight of God to obey you instead of him, for we cannot help telling of what we have seen and heard."
And the high priests kept heaping accusations upon him. But Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer to make? See what charges they are making against you." But Jesus made no further answer at all, so that Pilate wondered.
Then Peter, filled with the holy Spirit, said to them, "Leaders of the people and members of the council, if it is for a benefit conferred upon a helpless man, and as to how he was cured, that we are called to account here today, you and the people of Israel must all know that it is through the power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that he stands here before you well. read more.
He is the stone that you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation through anyone else, for there is no one else in the world who has been named to men as their only means of being saved."
He is the stone that you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation through anyone else, for there is no one else in the world who has been named to men as their only means of being saved."
The high priest said, "Is this statement true?" He answered, "Brothers and fathers, listen. The glorious God appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, and he said to him, 'Leave your country and your relatives and come to the country that I will show you.' read more.
So he left the country of the Chaldeans and went to live in Haran, and from there after the death of his father, God caused him to move into this country where you now live. He gave him no property in it, not a single foot, but he promised to give it to him and his posterity after him permanently, though he had no children at that time. This was what God said: 'His descendants will be strangers, living in a foreign land, and they will be enslaved and misused for four hundred years, and I will sentence the nation that has enslaved them,' God said, 'and afterward they will leave that country and worship me on this spot.' And he made the agreement of circumcision with him, and so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him, and rescued him from all his troubles, and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor of Egypt and of his whole household. Then a famine spread all over Egypt and Canaan, and there was great suffering, and our forefathers could not find any food. But Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt, and he sent our forefathers on their first visit there. On their second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Pharaoh learned of Joseph's parentage. Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all, and Jacob came down to Egypt. There he and our forefathers died, and they were carried back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. As the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise God had made to Abraham, the people became more and more numerous in Egypt, until another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. He took advantage of our people and oppressed our forefathers, making them abandon their infant children, so that they should not live. It was at this time that Moses was born. He was a wonderfully beautiful child, and for three months he was taken care of in his father's house. When he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh adopted him and brought him up as her own son. So Moses was educated in all the Egyptian culture; he was strong in speech and action. When he was forty years old, it occurred to him to visit his brothers, the descendants of Israel. Seeing one of them being imposed upon, he interfered and defended the man who was being ill treated, striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was using him as the means of delivering them, but they did not. The next day, he came across two of them fighting and tried to pacify them. He said to them, 'You are brothers. Why should you injure each other?' But the aggressor thrust him off, saying, 'Who made you our ruler and judge? Do you mean to kill me as you did that Egyptian yesterday?' At those words Moses fled, and went and lived for a time in Midian, and two sons were born to him there. When forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it he wondered at the sight, and when he went up to see what it was, the voice of the Lord said, 'I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses was terrified and did not dare to look at it. Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your shoes, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have seen all the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groans, and I have come down to save them. So come! I will make you my messenger to Egypt!' The Moses whom they had refused, saying to him, 'Who made you our ruler and judge?' God sent both to rule and to deliver them, with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush. It was he who brought them out of Egypt, and did wonders and signs there, and at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert. This was the Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, 'God will make a prophet rise from among your brothers to teach you, just as he made me rise.' It was he who with the congregation in the desert went between the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and our forefathers, and received and communicated to you utterances that still live. Yet our forefathers would not listen to him, but thrust him off, and their hearts turned back to Egypt, for they said to Aaron, 'Make us gods to march in front of us, for as for this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!' They even made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to their idol, and held a celebration over what their own hands had made. So God turned his back on them and left them to worship the starry host, just as the Book of the Prophets says, " 'Was it victims and sacrifices that you offered to me, O house of Israel, Those forty years in the desert? You offered me the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rompha, The images you had made to worship! So I will deport you beyond Babylon.' In the desert our forefathers had the Tent of the Testimony built like the model Moses had seen, just as he who spoke to him told him to make it. This tent was handed down to our forefathers and they brought it here with them when under Joshua they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them, and it existed until the time of David. He won the approval of God and begged to be allowed to provide a dwelling for the God of Jacob, and Solomon actually built a house for him. But the Most High does not live in buildings made by human hands. As the prophet says, " 'The sky is my throne, And the earth a footstool for my feet. What house can you build for me? says the Lord, Or what place is there where I can rest? Was it not my hand that made it all?' You stubborn people, with heathen hearts and ears, you are always opposing the holy Spirit, just as your forefathers did! Which of the prophets did your forefathers not persecute? They killed the men who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and killed??53 you who had the Law given to you by angels, and did not obey it!" When they heard that, they were enraged and ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at God's right hand. And he said, "Look! I can see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand!"
So he left the country of the Chaldeans and went to live in Haran, and from there after the death of his father, God caused him to move into this country where you now live. He gave him no property in it, not a single foot, but he promised to give it to him and his posterity after him permanently, though he had no children at that time. This was what God said: 'His descendants will be strangers, living in a foreign land, and they will be enslaved and misused for four hundred years, and I will sentence the nation that has enslaved them,' God said, 'and afterward they will leave that country and worship me on this spot.' And he made the agreement of circumcision with him, and so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him, and rescued him from all his troubles, and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor of Egypt and of his whole household. Then a famine spread all over Egypt and Canaan, and there was great suffering, and our forefathers could not find any food. But Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt, and he sent our forefathers on their first visit there. On their second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Pharaoh learned of Joseph's parentage. Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all, and Jacob came down to Egypt. There he and our forefathers died, and they were carried back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. As the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise God had made to Abraham, the people became more and more numerous in Egypt, until another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. He took advantage of our people and oppressed our forefathers, making them abandon their infant children, so that they should not live. It was at this time that Moses was born. He was a wonderfully beautiful child, and for three months he was taken care of in his father's house. When he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh adopted him and brought him up as her own son. So Moses was educated in all the Egyptian culture; he was strong in speech and action. When he was forty years old, it occurred to him to visit his brothers, the descendants of Israel. Seeing one of them being imposed upon, he interfered and defended the man who was being ill treated, striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was using him as the means of delivering them, but they did not. The next day, he came across two of them fighting and tried to pacify them. He said to them, 'You are brothers. Why should you injure each other?' But the aggressor thrust him off, saying, 'Who made you our ruler and judge? Do you mean to kill me as you did that Egyptian yesterday?' At those words Moses fled, and went and lived for a time in Midian, and two sons were born to him there. When forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it he wondered at the sight, and when he went up to see what it was, the voice of the Lord said, 'I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses was terrified and did not dare to look at it. Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your shoes, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have seen all the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groans, and I have come down to save them. So come! I will make you my messenger to Egypt!' The Moses whom they had refused, saying to him, 'Who made you our ruler and judge?' God sent both to rule and to deliver them, with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush. It was he who brought them out of Egypt, and did wonders and signs there, and at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert. This was the Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, 'God will make a prophet rise from among your brothers to teach you, just as he made me rise.' It was he who with the congregation in the desert went between the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and our forefathers, and received and communicated to you utterances that still live. Yet our forefathers would not listen to him, but thrust him off, and their hearts turned back to Egypt, for they said to Aaron, 'Make us gods to march in front of us, for as for this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!' They even made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to their idol, and held a celebration over what their own hands had made. So God turned his back on them and left them to worship the starry host, just as the Book of the Prophets says, " 'Was it victims and sacrifices that you offered to me, O house of Israel, Those forty years in the desert? You offered me the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rompha, The images you had made to worship! So I will deport you beyond Babylon.' In the desert our forefathers had the Tent of the Testimony built like the model Moses had seen, just as he who spoke to him told him to make it. This tent was handed down to our forefathers and they brought it here with them when under Joshua they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them, and it existed until the time of David. He won the approval of God and begged to be allowed to provide a dwelling for the God of Jacob, and Solomon actually built a house for him. But the Most High does not live in buildings made by human hands. As the prophet says, " 'The sky is my throne, And the earth a footstool for my feet. What house can you build for me? says the Lord, Or what place is there where I can rest? Was it not my hand that made it all?' You stubborn people, with heathen hearts and ears, you are always opposing the holy Spirit, just as your forefathers did! Which of the prophets did your forefathers not persecute? They killed the men who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and killed??53 you who had the Law given to you by angels, and did not obey it!" When they heard that, they were enraged and ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at God's right hand. And he said, "Look! I can see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand!"
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." At this the high priest Ananias ordered the people who were standing nearest to him to strike him on the mouth. 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?" read more.
But the people who stood near him said, "Do you mean to insult God's high priest?" "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.' " 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!" When he said that, a dispute arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the meeting was divided.
But the people who stood near him said, "Do you mean to insult God's high priest?" "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.' " 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!" When he said that, a dispute arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the meeting was divided.
Jesus Christ » History of » Led by the council to pilate (in jerusalem)
When it was morning, all the high priests and elders of the people held a consultation about Jesus, with a view to putting him to death. And they bound him and led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus said, "Yes." And while the high priests and elders were making their charges against him, he made no answer. Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear what evidence they are bringing against you?" read more.
And he made him no reply to even a single accusation, so that the governor was greatly surprised.
And he made him no reply to even a single accusation, so that the governor was greatly surprised.
As soon as it was daylight, the high priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes, and they and the whole council bound Jesus and took him away and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He answered, "Yes." And the high priests kept heaping accusations upon him. read more.
But Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer to make? See what charges they are making against you." But Jesus made no further answer at all, so that Pilate wondered.
But Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer to make? See what charges they are making against you." But Jesus made no further answer at all, so that Pilate wondered.
Then they arose in a body and took him to Pilate, and they made this charge against him: "Here is a man whom we have found misleading our nation, and forbidding the payment of taxes to the emperor, and claiming to be an anointed king himself." And Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He answered, "Yes." read more.
And Pilate said to the high priests and the crowd, "I cannot find anything criminal about this man." But they persisted and said, "He is stirring up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He began in Galilee and he has come here."
And Pilate said to the high priests and the crowd, "I cannot find anything criminal about this man." But they persisted and said, "He is stirring up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He began in Galilee and he has come here."
Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor's house. It was early in the morning, and they would not go into the governor's house themselves, to avoid being ceremonially defiled and to be able to eat the Passover supper. So Pilate came outside to them, and said, "What charge do you make against this man?" They answered, "If he were not a criminal, we would not have turned him over to you." read more.
Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves, and try him by your law." The Jews said to him, "We have no authority to put anyone to death." This was to fulfil what Jesus said when he declared how he was to die. So Pilate went back into the governor's house and called Jesus and said to him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Did you think of that yourself, or has someone else said it to you about me?" Pilate answered, "Do you take me for a Jew? Your own people and the high priests handed you over to me. What offense have you committed?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not a kingdom of this world. If my kingdom were a kingdom of this world, my men would have fought to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom has no such origin." Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "As you say, I am a king. It was for this that I was born and for this that I came to the world, to give testimony for truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to my voice." Pilate said to him, "What is truth!" With these words he went outside again to the Jews, and said to them, "I can find nothing to charge him with.
Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves, and try him by your law." The Jews said to him, "We have no authority to put anyone to death." This was to fulfil what Jesus said when he declared how he was to die. So Pilate went back into the governor's house and called Jesus and said to him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Did you think of that yourself, or has someone else said it to you about me?" Pilate answered, "Do you take me for a Jew? Your own people and the high priests handed you over to me. What offense have you committed?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not a kingdom of this world. If my kingdom were a kingdom of this world, my men would have fought to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom has no such origin." Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "As you say, I am a king. It was for this that I was born and for this that I came to the world, to give testimony for truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to my voice." Pilate said to him, "What is truth!" With these words he went outside again to the Jews, and said to them, "I can find nothing to charge him with.
Self-defense » Accused persons heard in
"Does our Law condemn the accused without first hearing what he has to say, and finding out what he has done?"
Verse Concepts
The governor made a sign to Paul to speak, and he answered, "As I know that for many years you have acted as judge for this nation, I cheerfully undertake my defense, for it is not more than twelve days ago, as you can easily satisfy yourself, that I went up to worship at Jerusalem, and they have never found me debating with anyone in the Temple, or creating a disturbance among the people in the synagogues or about the city, read more.
and they cannot sustain the charges they have just made against me. I admit that in worshiping the God of my forefathers I follow the way of life that they call a sect, but I believe everything that is taught in the Law or written in the prophets, and I have the same hope in God that they themselves hold, that there is to be a resurrection of the upright and the wicked. Therefore I strive always to have a clear conscience before God and men. After an absence of several years, I had come to bring charitable donations for my nation, and to offer sacrifice. I had undergone the rites of purification and was occupied with these matters when they found me in the Temple, with no crowd or disturbance at all. But there were some Jews from Asia who ought to be here before you and to present their charges if they have any to make against me. Or let these men themselves tell what they found wrong in me when I appeared before the council??21 unless it was the one thing I shouted out as I stood among them??It is on the question of the resurrection of the dead that I am here on trial before you today!' "
and they cannot sustain the charges they have just made against me. I admit that in worshiping the God of my forefathers I follow the way of life that they call a sect, but I believe everything that is taught in the Law or written in the prophets, and I have the same hope in God that they themselves hold, that there is to be a resurrection of the upright and the wicked. Therefore I strive always to have a clear conscience before God and men. After an absence of several years, I had come to bring charitable donations for my nation, and to offer sacrifice. I had undergone the rites of purification and was occupied with these matters when they found me in the Temple, with no crowd or disturbance at all. But there were some Jews from Asia who ought to be here before you and to present their charges if they have any to make against me. Or let these men themselves tell what they found wrong in me when I appeared before the council??21 unless it was the one thing I shouted out as I stood among them??It is on the question of the resurrection of the dead that I am here on trial before you today!' "
Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus said, "Yes." And while the high priests and elders were making their charges against him, he made no answer. Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear what evidence they are bringing against you?" read more.
And he made him no reply to even a single accusation, so that the governor was greatly surprised.
And he made him no reply to even a single accusation, so that the governor was greatly surprised.
And Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He answered, "Yes."
Verse Concepts
Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He answered, "Yes." And the high priests kept heaping accusations upon him. But Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer to make? See what charges they are making against you." read more.
But Jesus made no further answer at all, so that Pilate wondered.
But Jesus made no further answer at all, so that Pilate wondered.
When they heard this, they were stung to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter said to them, "You must repent, and every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, in order to have your sins forgiven; then you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit, for the promise of it belongs to you and your children, as well as to all those far away whom the Lord our God calls to him." read more.
He said much more besides in giving his testimony, and urged them to save themselves from that crooked age.
He said much more besides in giving his testimony, and urged them to save themselves from that crooked age.