19. The commandant took him by the hand, and going aside with him, asked privately, What is it that you have to report to me?
20. And he replied, The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council (Sanhedrin) tomorrow, as if [they were] intending to examine him more exactly.
21. But do not yield to their persuasion, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush waiting for him, having bound themselves by an oath and under a curse neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him; and even now they are all ready, [just] waiting for your promise.
22. So the commandant sent the youth away, charging him, Do not disclose to anyone that you have given me this information.
23. Then summoning two of the centurions, he said, Have two hundred footmen ready by the third hour of the night (about 9:00 p.m.) to go as far as Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen.
24. Also provide beasts for mounts for Paul to ride, and bring him in safety to Felix the governor.
25. And he wrote a letter having this message:
26. Claudius Lysias sends greetings to His Excellency Felix the governor.
27. This man was seized [as prisoner] by the Jews, and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the troops and rescued him, because I learned that he is a Roman citizen.
28. And wishing to know the exact accusation which they were making against him, I brought him down before their council (Sanhedrin),
29. [Where] I found that he was charged in regard to questions of their own law, but he was accused of nothing that would call for death or [even] for imprisonment.
30. [However] when it was pointed out to me that there would be a conspiracy against the man, I sent him to you immediately, directing his accusers also to present before you their charge against him.