11 for if indeed I am unrighteous, and anything worthy of death have done, I deprecate not to die; and if there is none of the things of which these accuse me, no one is able to make a favour of me to them; to Caesar I appeal!'
and Agrippa said to Festus, `This man might have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.'
and the Jews having spoken against `it', I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar -- not as having anything to accuse my nation of;
`The God of gods -- Jehovah, the God of gods -- Jehovah, He is knowing, and Israel, he doth know, if in rebellion, and if in trespass against Jehovah (Thou dost not save us this day!)
`Lo, here `am' I; testify against me, over-against Jehovah, and over-against His anointed; whose ox have I taken, and whose ass have I taken, and whom have I oppressed; whom have I bruised, and of whose hand have I taken a ransom, and hide mine eyes with it? -- and I restore to you.' And they say, `Thou hast not oppressed us, nor hast thou crushed us, nor hast thou taken from the hand of any one anything.' And he saith unto them, `A witness `is' Jehovah against you: and a witness `is' His anointed this day, that ye have not found anything in my hand;' and they say, `A witness.'
And David saith unto his heart, `Now am I consumed one day by the hand of Saul; there is nothing for me better than that I diligently escape unto the land of the Philistines, and Saul hath been despairing of me -- of seeking me any more in all the border of Israel, and I have escaped out of his hand.'
If I have waved at the fatherless my hand, When I see in `him' the gate of my court,
If against me my land doth cry out, And together its furrows weep, If its strength I consumed without money, And the life of its possessors, I have caused to breathe out, Instead of wheat let a thorn go forth, And instead of barley a useless weed! The words of Job are finished.
O Jehovah, my God, if I have done this, If there is iniquity in my hands, If I have done my well-wisher evil, And draw mine adversary without cause, An enemy pursueth my soul, and overtaketh, And treadeth down to the earth my life, And my honour placeth in the dust. Selah.
and Paul said to them, `Having beaten us publicly uncondemned -- men, Romans being -- they did cast `us' to prison, and now privately do they cast us forth! why no! but having come themselves, let them bring us forth.'
and Paul being about to open `his' mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, `If, indeed, then, it was anything unrighteous, or an act of wicked profligacy, O Jews, according to reason I had borne with you,
and Paul said, `At the tribunal of Caesar I am standing, where it behoveth me to be judged; to Jews I did no unrighteousness, as thou dost also very well know;
but Paul having appealed to be kept to the hearing of Sebastus, I did command him to be kept till I might send him unto Caesar.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 25
Commentary on Acts 25 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 25
Some think that Felix was turned out, and Festus succeeded him, quickly after Paul's imprisonment, and that the two years mentioned in the close of the foregoing chapter are to be reckoned from the beginning of Nero's reign; but it seems more natural to compute them from Paul's being delivered into the hands of Felix. However, we have here much the same management of Paul's case as we had in the foregoing chapter; cognizance is here taken of it,
Act 25:1-12
We commonly say, "New lords, new laws, new customs;' but here was a new governor, and yet Paul had the same treatment from him that he had from the former, and no better. Festus, like Felix, is not so just to him as he should have been, for he does not release him; and yet not so unjust to him as the Jews would have had him to be, for he will not condemn him to die, nor expose him to their rage. Here is,
Act 25:13-27
We have here the preparation that was made for another hearing of Paul before King Agrippa, not in order to his giving judgment upon him, but in order to his giving advice concerning him, or rather only to gratify his curiosity. Christ had said, concerning his followers, that they should be brought before governors and kings. In the former part of this chapter Paul was brought before Festus the governor, here before Agrippa the king, for a testimony to both. Here is,