Acts 25

¹ Phestus therefore having set foot in the province, after three days he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. ² And the chief-priests and the foremost [men] of the Jews informed him against Paul, and they were calling upon him, ³ asking¹ [a] grace from him, that he summon him to Jerusalem, making [a] plot to be doing away with him on the way. ⁴ On the one hand therefore Phestus answered [that] Paul [is] being kept in Caesarea, on the other hand he himself [is] [about] to be swiftly² going out. ⁵ Those therefore among you, he said, able having gone down [with] me, if there is something improper in this man, let³ them accuse him. ⁶ So having stayed among them not many eight or ten days, having gone down to Caesarea, on the next day having sat upon the judgment seat, he ordered Paul be brought. ⁷ So when he arrived, the Jews come down from Jerusalem stood around [him], bringing many and weighty accusations [against him], which they were not able to prove, ⁸ while Paul was making defense that neither in the law of the Jews nor in the temple nor in Caesar was he sinning anything. ⁹ Now Phestus wanting to grant the Jews [a] grace, answered Paul saying: Do you wish having gone up to Jerusalem to be judged there by me concerning these [things]? ¹⁰ So Paul said: I am standing on the judgment seat of Caesar, you must not judge me. I have done [the] Jews no injustice, as you also well know. ¹¹ If on the one hand therefore I have done injustice and have practiced anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if on the other hand what these accuse of me is nothing, no one is able to grant⁴ me to them—I call upon Caesar. ¹² Then Phestus, having spoken with the council, answered: Upon Caesar have you called, to Caesar will you go.

¹³ Now certain days having elapsed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived in Caesarea greeting Phestus. ¹⁴ Now as they were remaining there more days, Phestus communicated the [accusations] against Paul saying: ¹⁵ There is a certain man left prisoner by Felix, concerning whom, when I came to be in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews were informing [me], requesting¹ condemnation against him, ¹⁶ to whom I answered that: It is not [a] custom for Romans to be granting any man, until the [one] being accused might have his accusers before his face, and might receive place of defense concerning the charges. ¹⁷ So when they came here, I having made no delay, on the next [day] having sat on the judgment seat I ordered the man to be brought, ¹⁸ concerning whom the accusers having stood brought no charge which I thought wicked⁵ , ¹⁹ but [that] they had certain questions concerning their own religion against him and concerning a certain Jesus having died, whom Paul asserts zoe-lives⁶ . ²⁰ So being uncertain of the investigation concerning this, I was saying if he might wish to be going to Jerusalem and there be being judged concerning these [things]. ²¹ But when Paul called for him to be kept to the decision of Sebastus, I ordered him to be kept until I send him to Caesar. ²² So Agrippa [said] to Phestus: I myself also intend to hear him. Tomorrow, he said, he would hear him. ²³ On the morrow therefore Agrippa and Bernice having come with much pageantry and having gone in to the audience room with the commanders and most prominent men of the city, and Phestus having ordered, Paul was brought. ²⁴ And Phestus said: King Agrippa and all those men present with you, you behold this [man] concerning whom all the multitude of the Jews appealed to me both in Jerusalem and here, shouting he must zoe-live⁶ no longer. ²⁵ So I found him to have practiced nothing worthy of death. So when this [one] himself called upon Sebastus I decided to be sending [him], concerning whom I have nothing certain to write to [my] Lord. Therefore I brought him before you [all]⁷ and especially you, King Agrippa, that [an] investigation having come to pass, I may have something I may write. ²⁷ For it seems unreasonable to me, having sent him prisoner, to not also report the accusations against him.

¹AITEO "ay-TEH-oh" (αιτεω) "request", "demand", "beg" something for oneself. Far from humbly requesting—it's more like 'demanding'. Jesus uses AITEO only of the prayer of others, not of His own (cf. John.16:26)—and not requesting things for Himself, only for others. AITEO seems to suppose a lesser degree of intimacy than EROTAO (ερωταω), hence AITEO is used of the requests of the disciples to God, but EROTAO of the requests of the disciples to Jesus, and of those of Jesus to the Father ( John.14:16). AITEO is demanding/begging/pleading, EROTAO is polite and friendlier. Both AITEO and EROTAO occur in John.16:26.

²or "shortly"

³imperative

⁴from GRACE

⁵PONEROS (πoνηρoς ) here. The Greek word KAKOS (κακoς ) is always translated `evil', PONEROS is usually translated as `wicked' although occasionally as `bad'; it can also mean 'diseased', 'sickly' and is thus translated where appropriate. Like KAKOS, PONEROS also means `evil', but the harm that evil does is more in view, where KAKOS is more `evil as evil'.

⁶from ZOE "ZOH-ay" (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected. Although it means 'life' in the conventional sense (for example: Matt.9:18, Matt.27:63, Luke.2:36, Acts.25:24, Rom.7:2, 2Cor.1:8, 1Thes.4:17, 1Tim.5:10, Rev.19:20), Jesus uses ZOE exclusively of 'life eternal' (with the possible exceptions of Luke.15:13, Luke.16:25). The other N.T. writers use ZOE in both senses—temporal and eternal, generally clear from the context. The Father is the 'zoe-living God' (see Matt.16:16). The Septuagint (LXX) in Gen.2:7 has "...[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of zoe-life, and the man became a zoe-living psyche-life" (and see 1Cor.15:45); and Gen.3:20 (LXX) "And Adam called his wife's name ZOE, because she was the mother of all zoe-living." Contrast PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. See John.12:25 where both ZOE and PSYCHE occur. Greek also has the word BIOS (βιoς ) for 'life' in the sense of biological processes.

⁷"you" is plural version 3.85.
On 08 Sep 2009, 19:29.