21. But when Paul appealed that he be kept under guard for the decision of His Majesty the Emperor, I gave orders for him to be kept under guard until I could send him to Caesar.”
22. So Agrippa said to Festus, “I want to hear the man myself also.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you will hear him.”
23. So on the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with great pageantry and entered into the audience hall, along with military tribunes and the most prominent men of the city. And when Festus gave the order, Paul was brought in.
24. And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man about whom the whole population of the Jews appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he must not live any longer.
25. But I understood that he had done nothing deserving death himself, and when this man appealed to His Majesty the Emperor, I decided to send him.
26. I do not have anything definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore I have brought him before you all—and especially before you, King Agrippa—so that after this preliminary hearing has taken place, I may have something to write.
27. For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner and not to indicate the charges against him.”