Acts 23:35

Plain English Version

Then Felix said, “The people that are blaming you will come here, and I will listen to them, and I will listen to you too, and then I will say if you are guilty or not.” And he told the soldiers, “Put Paul in the jail in the big house called Herod’s House.”

Cross References

Matthew 2:1

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea country. At that time, the big boss over that country was called Herod. There were some wise men in a country to the east of Judea. They always looked at the stars, and one night they saw a special star in the sky. So they went west to Jerusalem, the city in Judea country.

Matthew 2:16

At the time when Joseph, Mary and Jesus were going to Egypt, Herod waited for those wise men to come back, but they tricked him. They didn’t come back to him. Then he got really angry. He remembered their story about when they first saw the star, so he sent his soldiers to Bethlehem, and he told them to kill all the little boys up to 2 years old. So they killed all the little boys around Bethlehem. Herod wanted to make sure that Jesus was dead.

Matthew 2:3

Herod was the big boss over that country, and somebody told him that these wise men were talking about another big boss. Herod got very worried. He thought this other person might fight against him and take over his job. A lot of other people in Jerusalem were worried about it too.

John 18:28

It was early in the morning, and they took Jesus from Cayafas’s house to the house of the government boss in Jerusalem. His name was Pilate. It was the time of the Passover ceremony, so the Jewish leaders wouldn’t go into that house. You see, in their Jewish culture, if they went into a house that belonged to somebody that wasn’t Jewish, it was like they became dirty, and then they couldn’t eat the Passover food.

Acts 23:30

And right now somebody told me that some Jews are planning secretly to kill Paul, so I’m sending him to you. I reckon you can judge him properly there. And I told the Jews that want to blame him, ‘Go and do that in the court at Caesarea.’ ” That is the letter that the big boss soldier wrote to Felix.

Acts 24:1

Then, 5 days later, the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem came to Caesarea. One of them was Ananias, the big boss of the Jewish ceremonies, and another one was Tertullus, a lawyer. And there were some Jewish elders in that mob too. They went to the court house of Felix, the government boss, and they told him that Paul did bad things.

Acts 24:10

Then Felix, the government boss, let Paul know that it was his turn to talk. So Paul said, “I know that you have been a judge in this country for a long time, so I’m happy to tell you the true story.

Acts 24:19

It was some other Jews from Asia country that made the people go wild. If those Asia Jews really thought I did something wrong, why didn’t they come here to blame me in front of you? I reckon they know their story isn’t true.

Acts 24:22

Then Felix stopped the court. You see, he already knew a lot about the Christian people, the Jesus Way mob. Felix said to the people in the court, “Lisias will come here later. He is the big boss over the soldiers in Jerusalem. And after I listen to his story I will say if Paul is guilty or not.”

Acts 24:23

Then he told the boss soldier, “Take Paul back to the jail and make sure that he stays there, but don’t tie him up. And let his friends come to visit him, to look after him.”

Acts 25:16

But I told them, ‘That’s not how we Romans judge people. If somebody blames another person, we don’t say that person is guilty until after we get them in front of a judge with the people that are blaming them. And we let that person say why they reckon they are not guilty.’