Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Acts 25:13-26:32, Agrippa and Bernice hear Paul
King Agrippa II and his sister Bernice visit Festus, who asks them to hear Paul so that he will have something to write to the emperor. Paul tells his story; Festus calls him mad, Agrippa turns the question aside, and all agree he could have been set free had he not appealed to Caesar.
Acts 25:13-26:32, in every translation this tool compares.
King Agrippa II and his sister Bernice visit Festus, who explains that Paul's accusers argue about their religion and a dead man Paul says is alive, and asks for help writing up the case for the emperor. At a formal hearing Paul tells his story, from strict Pharisee and persecutor to his encounter with the risen Jesus near Damascus and his commission to the Gentiles, and says he stands trial for Israel's hope, a Messiah who suffers and is first to rise from death. Festus calls him mad, Agrippa deflects Paul's direct appeal, and Paul answers that he wishes all of them shared his faith, without his chains. Afterward the officials agree Paul has done nothing worthy of death, and Agrippa remarks that he could have gone free had he not appealed to the emperor.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/roman-trials-and-appeal\/","n":"Roman trials, the judgment seat and appeal","s":"A Roman governor heard a case only when someone brought a formal charge, questioned the accused himself, and gave sentence from the judgment seat. In Judea only Rome could put a man to death, and a Roman citizen could ask for his case to go to Caesar.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sages-and-philosophers\/","n":"Philosophers and their schools","s":"Stoics, Epicureans and other schools taught a whole way of life in lecture halls and marketplaces. A traveling teacher with a message about God would be heard, and judged, as one more philosopher.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/resurrection-of-the-dead\/","n":"The resurrection of the dead","s":"Most Jews, with the Pharisees, expected God to raise the dead to bodily life at the end of the age. The Sadducees denied it. Nobody expected one man to rise ahead of everyone else.","r":""}
Agrippa II, son of Agrippa I, ruled small, mostly Gentile territories; Claudius gave him oversight of the temple and the right to appoint high priests (Keener and his notes; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles). Bernice, his sister, had married their uncle Herod of Chalcis and later Polemo of Cilicia (Wright; the Zondervan Bible dictionary). Some ancient writers accused the two of incest, which Keener and the cultural backgrounds notes call slander; the CSB Study Bible speaks of her checkered marital history, while the cultural backgrounds notes say she appears favorably in Josephus, and the dictionary recalls her confronting the governor Florus at the risk of her life in 66. A dossier had to go to Rome with the prisoner (Keener and his notes), and Wright reads this hearing as an informal interview to help Festus write it. Agrippa's reply is read as sarcasm, a jest or near persuasion (the CSB Study Bible), a witty escape (the cultural backgrounds notes), or a serious answer (Keener). Once Paul had appealed, freeing him risked the emperor's anger (Wright). Luke sets these hearings beside Jesus' hearings before Pilate and Herod Antipas (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 21:36, 25:13, 25:14, 25:27, 26:1, 26:14, 26:24 and 26:28
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 25:1-12, 25:13-14, 25:27, 26:2-11, 26:14, 26:24 and 26:28-29
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Acts 25:13
- CSB Study Bible, notes on Acts 25:13 and 26:28
- N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part Two, comments on Acts 25:13-27 and 26:24-32
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry Bernice
