5. Paul said, “Brothers, I did not know this man was the high priest. It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You must not curse a leader of your people.’”
6. Some of the men in the meeting were Sadducees, and others were Pharisees. So Paul shouted to them, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee and my father was a Pharisee! I am on trial here because I hope that people will rise from death!”
7. When Paul said this, there was an argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The group was divided.
8. (The Sadducees believe that after people die, they cannot live again. The Sadducees also teach that there are no angels or spirits. But the Pharisees believe in them all.)
9. So there was a great uproar. Some of the teachers of the law, who were Pharisees, stood up and argued, “We find nothing wrong with this man! Maybe an angel or a spirit did speak to him.”
10. The argument was beginning to turn into a fight. The commander was afraid that the Jews would tear Paul to pieces. So the commander told the soldiers to go down and take Paul away and put him in the army building.
11. The next night the Lord came and stood by Paul. He said, “Be brave! You have told people in Jerusalem about me. You must do the same in Rome also.”
12. In the morning some of the Jews made a plan to kill Paul. They made a promise that they would not eat or drink anything until they had killed him.
13. There were more than 40 Jews who made this plan.
14. They went and talked to the leading priests and the Jewish elders. They said, “We have made a promise to ourselves that we will not eat or drink until we have killed Paul!
15. So this is what we want you to do: Send a message to the commander to bring Paul out to you. Tell him you want to ask Paul more questions. We will be waiting to kill him while he is on the way here.”