The governor read the letter and asked Paul where he was from. When he learned that Paul was from Cilicia,
Paul answered, “I’m a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia—a citizen of an important city. Please let me speak to the people.”
Three days after Festus arrived, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
Paul first went through Syria and Cilicia to strengthen the churches there.
But members of a group called the Synagogue of the Freedmen began to oppose him. Some of them were Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria. Others were Jews from Cilicia and Asia. They all began to argue with Stephen.
When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was from Galilee.