1 AndHypocrites, when they can not do what they want to do by force and deceit, at length they go about to accomplish it by a show of law.after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and [with] a certain orator [named] Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.
2 And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse [him], saying, Seeing thatFelix ruled that province with great cruelty and covetousness, and yet Josephus records that he did many worthy things, such as taking Eleazar the captain of certain cutthroats, and put that deceiving wretch the Egyptian to flight, who caused great troubles in Judea.by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that veryHe uses a word which the Stoics defined as a perfect duty and perfect behaviour.worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence,
3 We acknowledge it wholy, and in all places most noble Felix, with all thankes,
4 But that I be not tedious vnto thee, I pray thee, that thou wouldest heare vs of thy courtesie a fewe wordes.
5 For we have found this man [a]Literally, «a plague».pestilent [fellow], and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and aAs one would say, a ringleader, or a flag bearer.ringleader of the sect of theSo they scoffingly called the Christians, taking the name from the towns where they thought that Christ was born, whereupon it happened that Julian the apostate called Christ a Galilean.Nazarenes:
6 And hath gone about to pollute the Temple: therefore wee tooke him, and woulde haue iudged him according to our Lawe:
7 But the chiefe captaine Lysias came vpon vs, and with great violence tooke him out of our handes,
8 Commanding his accusers to come to thee: of whom thou mayest (if thou wilt inquire) know all these things whereof we accuse him.
9 And the Jews alsoConfirmed what Tertullus said.assented, saying that these things were so.
10 Tertullus, by the devil's rhetoric, begins with flattery and finishes with lies: but Paul using heavenly eloquence, and but a simple beginning, casts off from himself the crime of sedition, with which he was being charged, with a simple denial.Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been ofPaul pleaded his cause two years before Felix departed out of the province, see (Act_24:27), but he had governed Trachonite, and Batanea, and Galavnite, before Claudius made him governor of Judea; see Josephus in the History of the Jewish War, lib. 2, cap. 11.many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself:
11 Seeing that thou mayest knowe, that there are but twelue dayes since I came vp to worship in Hierusalem.
12 And they neither found mee in the Temple disputing with any man, neither making vproare among the people, neither in the Synagogues, nor in the citie.
13 Neither can theyThey cannot lay forth before you and prove with good reasons.prove the things whereof they now accuse me.
14 Paul proceeds in the case of religion from a conjectural state to a practical state, not only admitting of the religion which he was accused of, but also proving it to be true, to be heavenly and from God, and to be the oldest of all religions.But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they callHere this word «heresy» or «sect» is taken in a good sense.heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
15 And haue hope towardes God, that the resurrection of the dead, which they themselues looke for also, shalbe both of iust and vniust.
16 And herein I endeuour my selfe to haue alway a cleare conscience towarde God, and toward men.
17 Paul in conclusion tells the things thing which was truly done, which Tertullus before him had corrupted in various ways.Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings.
18 And while I was occupied with those things.Whereupon certain Jews fromBy this it is evident that these from Asia were Paul's enemies, and the ones that stirred up the people against him.Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult.
19 Who ought to haue bene present before thee, and accuse me, if they had ought against me.
20 Or else let these same [here] say, if they have found any evil doing in me, while I stood before theWhere the tribune brought me.council,
21 Except it be for this one voyce, that I cried standing among them, Of the resurrection of the dead am I accused of you this day.
22 The judge suspends his sentence because the matter is doubtful.And when Felix heard these things, having moreFelix could not judge whether he had done wickedly in the matter of his religion or not until he had a better understanding of the way which Paul professed: and as for other matters with regard to the charge of sedition, he considers it good to defer it until he hears Lysias, and therefore he gives Paul somewhat more liberty.perfect knowledge of [that] way, he deferred them, and said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter.
23 God is a most faithful keeper of his servants, and the power of the truth is wonderful, even amongst men who are otherwise profane.And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let [him] have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him.
24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wifeThis Drusilla was Agrippa's sister of whom Luke speaks afterwards, a harlot and very licentious woman, and being the wife of Azizus king of the Emesens, who was circumcised, departed from him, and went to this Felix the brother of Pallas, who was at one time the slave of Nero.Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
25 And as he disputed of righteousnes & temperance, & of the iudgement to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time, and when I haue conuenient time, I will call for thee.
26 Hee hoped also that money shoulde haue bene giuen him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore hee sent for him the oftner, and communed with him.
27 With an evil mind, that is guilty in itself, and although sometimes there is some show of fairness, yet eventually the conscience will be extinguished: but in the meanwhile we have need of continual patience.But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix' room: and Felix, willing toFor he had behaved himself very wickedly in the province, and had it not been for favour of his brother Pallas, he would have died for it: so that we may gather by this why he would have pleased the Jews.shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.
