Verse by Verse

¹⁴ But not long after, a tempestuous head wind arose, called Euroclydon.

¹⁵ So when the ship was caught, and could not head into the wind, we let her drive.

¹⁶ And running under the shelter of an island called Clauda, we secured the skiff with difficulty.

¹⁷ When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship; and fearing lest they should run aground on the Syrtis Sands , they struck sail and so were driven.

¹⁸ And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship.

¹⁹ On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands.

²⁰ Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us , all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.

²¹ But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.

²² And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

²³ For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve,

²⁴ saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’

²⁵ Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.

²⁶ However, we must run aground on a certain island.”

not long after (v.14) — after rounding Cape Matala

arose (v.14) = lit. “came down it” — winds off the 7,000-foot mountains on Crete

Euroclyldon (v.14) = lit. “wind causing broad waves” — the Northeaster or Levanter

Cauda (v.16) — A small island 23 miles south of Phoenix — today called Gozzo

secure the boat (v.16) — hauled in the ship’s boat which had been towing behind the ship — it was surely filling with water

undergirding (v.17) — The process called “frapping” by sailors, stout ropes being passed under the vessel transversely to prevent the timbers from starting apart.

Syrtis Sands (v.17) — There were two formidable quicksands of this name, the dread of sailors, Syrtis Major (referred to here) and Syrtis Minor, on the north coast of Africa, the one off the shores of Tripoli, and the other off Tunis more to the west. The east-northeast wind would drive them straight on to it, in the direction which they had been following from Crete to Cauda.

struck sail (v.17) — They now lowered the great main-sail, which they had not been able to reef and set before because of the rough weather. With that still set, the wind would drive them rapidly on to the quicksands. It may also include the lowering of the heavy yard-arm and other gear from aloft, except a small storm-sail necessary to enable them to keep the ship’s head to the wind and to alter her tack. Under such circumstances, sailors would bring the head of the vessel as near to the wind as possible and adjust a small sail to steady her. She would then be driven leeward, and, with a strong east-northeast wind blowing, would drift west by north, the average rate of drift being about a mile and a half per hour. — Walker, pages 553-554.

lightened the ship (v.18) = lit. “began to do a throwing out” — a technical term for tossing cargo overboard

tackle (v.19) — spare fittings, furniture, everything that wasn’t essential

neither sun nor stars (v.20) — they could not navigate and had no idea where they were

⁹ Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them,

¹⁰ saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.”

¹¹ Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul.

¹² And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there.

¹³ When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete.

sailing was now dangerous (v.9) — It was considered dangerous to sail between September 14 and November 11. From November 11 to March 5, all sailing on the open sea stopped.

the Fast (v.9) — The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 17:29). This was fixed for the tenth day of the seventh month (Tisri), and fell either in the latter part of September or the beginning of October. In AD 59, it occurred on October 5, so that the “dangerous” season was already well advanced. — Walker, page 549.

helmsman (v.11) — the master — the officer responsible for navigation

Phoenix (v.12) — Now called Lutro, a place well to the west of Cape Matala, in that part of Crete where the island is narrowest. It has been described as “the only secure harbor in all winds on the south coast of Crete.”

opening toward the southwest and northwest (v.12) — The Greek may be rendered literally “looking down the southwest wind and the northwest wind.” The harbor faced the northeast and southeast. This exactly describes the harbor of Lutro which has an easterly aspect. In such a haven, they would be safely sheltered from northerly and westerly winds. — Walker, page 551. 

¹ And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment.

² So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.

³ And the next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care.

⁴ When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.

⁵ And when we had sailed over the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.

⁶ There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board.

⁷ When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmone.

⁸ Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

This voyage and journey occupied, as we find by observing the time notes of the story, about six months. Paul left Caesarea in August AD 60, and they were shipwrecked at the beginning of November. That is indicated by the fact that they were three months on the island of Melita, that they sailed again after the three month’s stay there at the beginning of February AD 61, and arrived in Rome about the first day of March. — Morgan, page 529.

we (v.1) — Luke is again a companion of Paul.

Augustan regiment (v.1) — Perhaps a centurion of some local cohort named after Augustus, but more probably one of the Praetorian Guard, who may have been in the vicinity in connection with Festus’ installation into office. — Stam, page 159

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Adramyttium (v.2) — A seaport of Mysia (Acts 16:7), at the top of the Gulf of Adramyttium, and a little distance east-southeast of Troas. It was an important trading center and exported ointment, etc. Its vessels were engaged in the coasting trade along the coast of Asia Minor as far as Syria. — Walker, page 544.

Aristarchus (v.2) — He is also mentioned in Acts 19:29; 20:4; Colossians 4:10 (as a fellow-prisoner) and Philemon 1:24.

Sidon (v.3) — about 70 miles (approx. 10-hours sail) from Caesarea

receive care (v.3) — Paul was apparently unwell, probably from his two years in prison in Caesarea. This is another of the several occasions in which Paul received kind treatment from Romans.

under the shelter of Cyprus (v.4) — They sailed, that is, between Cyprus and the mainland of Asia Minor, under shelter of the island. Since the prevalent wind in the Levant is westerly through the summer months, they could not strike directly across the open sea (to Lycia), as Paul had done in the opposite direction during his last voyage to Jerusalem (Acts 21:1-2).

sailed over (v.5) — A nautical term peculiar to this passage. The meaning is that the vessel sailed slowly along the coast off Cilicia and Pamphylia, taking advantage of every breath of land breeze and probably having to anchor every few miles.

Myra (v.5) — An important seaport of Lycia. It was the place from which navigation was made direct, when favorable winds allowed, across sea to Alexandria and Syria, and so it grew more and more influential as seafaring methods improved.

Lycia (v.5) — A country in the southeastern portion of Asia Minor, rising, in many parts, into lofty mountains almost direct from the sea coast. It was formed into a Roman province (imperial) in AD 43. — Walker pages 546-547

ship of Alexandria (v.6) — carrying grain to Rome

Cnidus (v.7) — At the extreme southwest corner of Asia Minor, a town situated in Caria at the end of a narrow peninsula. It possessed two good harbors. After leaving Cnidus, a vessel would part with the shelter of the Asian coast.

Salmone (v.7) — Cape Salmone. This was a promontory on the northeast of Crete, and vessels sailing under its lee would be sheltered from the northwest wind.

Fair Havens (v.8) — A small bay, still bearing the same name, about six miles east of Cape Matala, a promontory near the middle of the southern coast of Crete, beyond which the land trends to the north.

Lasea (v.8) — Identified in AD 1856 with the ruins of a small town some four miles east of the Bay of Fair Havens, and still called Lasea by the peasants. The town is probably mentioned by name because, while the ship lay at Fair Havens, provisions, etc. were obtained from it. — Walker, pages 547-548

I’m not sure what I think of this next quote. It works as an analogy, but I question whether the Holy Spirit intended this interpretation. But I thought I’d include it as food for thought.

The passage depicts the voyage of the Church through the present dispensation, as it leaves Judaism behind. The sea symbolizes the unsaved masses (Isaiah 57:20); the contrary wind, the antagonism of Satan (Ephesians 2:2). The ship [as the organized church, I guess] is finally wrecked, but all who sail with Paul are brought safe to shore (v.44).

Paul is the outstanding figure aboard ship. He gives advice as to the journey (vs. 9-10) and when this is rejected and trouble results, he rebukes them saying: “Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me” (v.21). It is he who cheers his fellow-passengers as, by divine revelation, he declares that all those sailing with him will survive the storm (vs. 24-25) and it is he who persuades them finally to partake of food and presides in the giving of thanks (vs. 34-36). — Stam, page 158.

²⁴ Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”

²⁵ But he said, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.

²⁶ For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner.

²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.”

²⁸ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

²⁹ And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.”

³⁰ When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them;

³¹ and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.”

³² Then Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Festus thought it unbelievable that Christ could rise from the dead (v.24). His interruption probably wasn’t simple rudeness but astonishment at what Paul had been saying, perhaps mixed with concern about how it would sound to Agrippa.

much learning (v.24) = lit. “much writing” — Festus may have been referring to the writing Paul was doing in prison. In any case, he could tell Paul was well-educated.

is driving you (v.24) = lit. “is turning you upside-down”

soberness (v.25) — the opposite of madness

Agrippa professed to believe the prophets (v.27), and he certainly knew about Jesus Christ and about Paul’s ministry. Paul urged him to put these facts together and arrive at the obvious conclusion.

you almost persuade me (v.28) — Agrippa probably said this half-in-jest to parry Paul’s question. It could be translated, “With a little persuasion would you try to make a Christian of me!”

might have been set free (v.32) — Thus Festus’s acknowledgement that Paul was innocent from the point of view of Roman law (Acts 25:25) is confirmed by the decision of Agrippa, speaking from the Jewish point of view. The appeal to Caesar, however, had taken the matter out of local jurisdiction. Possibly, Agrippa’s opinion influenced the terms of the letter which Festus drafted to Rome about Paul’s case. — Walker, page 542.

¹⁹ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰ but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

²¹ For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me .

²² Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come —

²³ that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

showed (v.20) — tense indicates continuous action

In the apostle’s brief account of the carrying out of his commission it should be noted that the word “then” in verse 20 is supplied by the translators in the Authorized Version; it is not contained in the original. Albert Barnes comments on this:

“It would seem from that word [then] that he had not preached “to the Gentiles” until after he had preached “at Jerusalem and throughout all the coasts of Judea,” whereas, in fact, he had, as we have reason to believe … before then “preached” to the Gentiles in Arabia”

While Barnes does not prove even in his notes on Acts 9, that Paul preached in Arabia, his general argument is correct. For one thing, after his return to Jerusalem from Damascus (Galatians 1:17-18) he “came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia” (Galatians 1:21) apparently in connection with his journey to Tarsus (cf. Acts 9:29-30). Evidently this was the occasion of the founding of Gentile churches there, for later we find letters being sent along with Paul and others, to the Gentile believers there, to confirm them in grace (Acts 15:23-27). Now all this time, Paul himself tells us, he “was still unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ” (Galatians 1:22). He could not, therefore, have preached “thoughout all the coasts of Judea” before going to the Gentiles. his ministry in Judea more probably took place at the time when the Gentiles at Antioch sent financial “relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea” (Acts 11:29-30) or else on one of his subsequent visits to that region. — Stam, pages 140-141.

would suffer (v.23) = destined to suffer

the first to rise from the dead (v.23) — But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

Paul thus argued before Agrippa that his Christianity was the logical and necessary sequel to his past, because that which was the central hope of Hebraism had been fulfilled in One Who demonstrated His Messiahship by His actual resurrection from among the dead. Here was no labored argument, no attempt to define the doctrine of the resurrection, but rather an almost cold and dispassionate, clear and unyielding testimony, of a personal experience, the avowal of the fact that he had met the Jesus they had murdered, alive; and that he could do no other than follow His call. — Morgan, page 524.

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Extreme dispensationalists, seeking to prove that Paul did preach a kingdom message during his early ministry, have often cited Acts 26:22 to prove their point. Does this not prove, they argue, that Paul could not have proclaimed the mystery before Acts 28? Does he not say he had proclaimed nothing which the prophets and Moses had not already foretold?

The trouble is that our extremist friends have quoted only half his statement. The first part of his statement, in verse 22, is clearly qualified by the remainder, in verse 23.

In other words, the facts that Christ should suffer, rise from the dead and show light to Israel and the Gentiles, were nothing but what the prophets and Moses had already predicted. Why then should the Jews so bitterly oppose Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles? This alone was Paul’s argument. — Stam, pages 143-145.

What do I make of all this? If the “then” in verse 20 was inserted by translators, I think any issue disappears, especially as it then lines up with what Paul says in Galatians.

Some have an issue with Paul’s preaching of repentance in verse 20. But repentance simply means “a change of mind” and that is, of course, necessary if one is to turn from depending on one’s self to dependence on God for salvation. He doesn’t say the “works befitting repentance” are necessary for salvation. He just says that he preached to both Jews and Gentiles that they should behave in a way consistent with their change of mind.

The other issue, regarding verses 22 and 23 as I’ve quoted from Stam, are pretty obvious to me. There isn’t even a sentence break between the two verses. If the guy who broke the Bible in to verses hadn’t split them at that point, there would be no issue.

¹³ at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.

¹⁴ And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

¹⁶ But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.

¹⁷ I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,

¹⁸ to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

midday (v.13) — when the sun was at its brightest (and this in Syria!), the light from heaven still outshone it.

shining around (v.13) — The Greek word here is uses again in Scripture only in Luke 2:9 of the light seen by the shepherds.

goads (v.14) — a stick used to prod animals. There may be a sense here in which Paul’s conscience had been bothering him even before he met the Lord personally.

which you have seen (v.16) — only eye-witnesses of the Lord could be apostles

I will yet reveal (v.16) — Christ appeared to Paul more than once (Acts 18:9; 22:17-21; 23:11) and gave him special revelation at other times (2 Corinthians 12:1-4).

deliver (v.17) — in the sense of choosing

to whom (v.17) — Jews and Gentiles, but particularly Gentiles

Paul was indeed chosen and taken out from both his own people and the Gentiles, and sent back to both with the message of grace. This distinguishes him, too, from the twelve. They represented the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). He, as one apostle, represents the one Body (Colossians 1:24; Ephesians 4:4). — Stam, page 137.

⁹ “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰ This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them .

¹¹ And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

¹² “While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

Paul sincerely thought he was doing right in opposing Jesus Christ (John 16:2). He was probably the head of the Jewish persecution of Christians.

Paul’s sincerity did not excuse him, though it did afford God grounds for showing him mercy (1 Timothy 1:13). — Stam, page 129.

to do (v.9) = to do habitually

to the name (v.9) — “to the cause of” — “to things done in the authority of”

I cast my vote (v.10) — The word “vote” means, literally, the stone or pebble with which the vote was recorded. If the expression be taken quite literally, it will mean that Saul was a member of the Sanhedrin before his conversion, and, as such, gave his vote like the other Sanhedrists. This view is strongly advocated by some, and has much to be said in its favor. In that case, we should have to suppose that he was elected to that important body because of his prominence as a Jewish propagandist; as also, apparently, that he had been previously married — a qualification required in members of the Sanhedrin — though subsequently becoming a widower (1 Corinthians 7:7). On the other hand, it is urged that he was too young for membership in such a council of “elders,” and that the phrase may be used more loosely as merely indicating that he gave his full consent (Acts 22:20). — Walker, pages 532-533.

It may also be that Paul was a member of a larger ruling council which included the Sanhedrin and other prominent Jews.

against them (v.10) — Stephen wasn’t the only martyr (Act 8:1, 3; 9:1, 21; Galatians 1:13)

every synagogue (v.11) — and there were many — He was thorough.

compelled them to blaspheme (v.11) = “tried to get them to blaspheme” — the tense indicates that he tried and failed

blaspheme (v.11) — Paul wouldn’t have called it blasphemy here if he hadn’t, by this time, come to recognize that Jesus Christ is God.

 ¹ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.”
So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself:

² “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews,

³ especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.

⁴ “My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know.

⁵ They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.

⁶ And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers.

⁷ To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.

⁸ Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?

Paul’s address was that of courteous introduction, recognizing Agrippa’s knowledge, and requesting that he should hear him in patience.

What were the probable values of that method of address? First of all I seem to hear in it a genuine sigh of relief that he was to be heard by one who would at least be able technically to follow his argument. His plea for a patient hearing suggested his memory of former interruptions. It is well perhaps to be reminded that Agrippa granted him his patient hearing; but it is well also to notice that the address was never finished, for Festus interrupted him …

As he looked into the face of Agrippa, and knew him a magnificent man in many respects, of physical presence, of mental ability, expert as Paul said, and as Rabbinical writers agree, in all the technicalities of the Hebrew economy, I think he felt within him: “Oh, that this man could only see these things as I have seen them through the light of the resurrection of the Lord.” I think the passion for his saving possessed him as he asked Agrippa to hear him patiently. In that appeal to Agrippa, if that be the deepest sense of it, there is an interesting revelation of Paul’s personal conviction that the logic of “The Way” was irresistible. — Morgan, pages 519-520.

Paul demonstrated to Agrippa that faith in the risen Christ was, in fact, the culmination of the strict Judaism in which he was trained and, rather than being an unbelievable occurrence, it was exactly what the Jews had been promised in their Scriptures. He explained that he had been a strict Jew who believed in the ceremonial and moral aspects of his religion, but also in the spiritual aspects, which included hope in the resurrection of the dead.

stretched out his hand (v.1) — a gesture of earnestness — He was probably chained to a Roman soldier (v.29)

of the Jews (v.2) = should be “of Jews” — referring to their national and religious characteristics

Extra-biblical sources agree that Agrippa was an expert (v.3) in the technicalities of Judaism.

customs and questions (v.3) — habits of practice and theories of doctrine

religion (v.5) — external rites and forms

for this hope’s sake (v.7) — referring to the very hope all 12 tribes were looking for and the one promised throughout the Law and the Prophets

In Acts 25:19, Festus talked of Paul’s belief in resurrection mockingly, and while Paul wasn’t there to hear it, he must have known how he and others felt. And so here (v.8), Paul asked Agrippa, who professed to be a practicing Jew, “Why is this thought to be incredible?”

²² Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.”
“Tomorrow,” he said, “you shall hear him.”

²³ So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and had entered the auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at Festus’ command Paul was brought in.

²⁴ And Festus said: “King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer.

²⁵ But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him.

²⁶ I have nothing certain to write to my lord concerning him. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I may have something to write.

²⁷ For it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him.”

I would like to hear (v.22) — The tense indicates that Agrippa desired to hear Paul for some time previous to this. It also makes Agrippa’s words a polite request to Festus.

Festus turned this hearing (v.23) into a state occasion with Agrippa as the chief dignitary.

pomp (v.23) — ostentatious display

chief captains (v.23) — military tribunes, the heads of the military department in Caesarea

As Agrippa beheld Paul, did he recall his great-grandfather, Herod, and the slaughter of the innocent [children in Bethlehem] (Matthew 2:16)? Did he recall his great-uncle, Herod Antipas, and the murder of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:1-11)? Did he recall his father, Herod Agrippa I and the murder of James (Acts 12:1-2)? Did it occur to him that all these ancestors of his had died or been disgraced soon after their commission of these crimes? Did the “great pomp” of his own parade to the Audience Hall remind him of the time 16 years ago, when the people had shouted that his much-more-powerful father was a god, and how he had been instantly stricken with death and eaten by worms “because he gave not God the glory” (Acts 12:21-23)? — Stam, pages 121-122.

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my lord (v.26) — The Greek word corresponds to the Latin “dominus,” a title which had been refused by both Octavian and Tiberius as trespassing on the prerogatives of deity and as savoring of despotism. Caligula, however, accepted it, as did also his successors. It became a usual appellation of the emperors. — Walker, page 527.

examination (v.26) — investigation. This was not a trial, instead it was hearing to try to determine the charges against Paul.

 In Acts 9:15, the Lord told Ananias that Paul was “a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.” This hearing was a partial fulfillment of that.

Paul would not be benefited by helping Festus explain the charges laid against him! Thus, as in his private hearings before Felix, he scarcely refers to these charges, but takes advantage of the opportunity to seek to win his hearers to Christ. — Stam, page 123.

¹³ And after some days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus.

¹⁴ When they had been there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying: “There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix,

¹⁵ about whom the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me , when I was in Jerusalem, asking for a judgment against him.

¹⁶ To them I answered, ‘It is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has opportunity to answer for himself concerning the charge against him.’

¹⁷ Therefore when they had come together, without any delay, the next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in.

¹⁸ When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed,

¹⁹ but had some questions against him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

²⁰ And because I was uncertain of such questions, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters.

²¹ But when Paul appealed to be reserved for the decision of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I could send him to Caesar.”

King Agrippa (v.13) — Agrippa II, son of Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1). When his father died, he was a youth of 17 years old, living in Rome, where he was brought up at the court of the emperor Claudius. When his uncle Herod, king of Chalcis (a district of Syria, northwest of Damascus) died some eight years later, the emperor conferred that principality on Agrippa. In A.D. 53, he gave it up, and received instead the tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias (Luke 3:1) with the title of “king.” The government of part of Galilee and Petraea was added later by Nero. Caesarea Philippi, in Galilee, was his capital. He was the last of the Herodian dynasty to exercise sovereignty. After the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70), he retired to Rome, where he died about A.D. 100.

Bernice (v.13) — Eldest daughter of Agrippa I, and sister of Drusilla (Acts 24:24). She was one year younger than her brother Agrippa II, being 16 years old when her father died. When only 13 years of age, she was married to her uncle Herod of Chalcis and bore him two sons. At his death in A.D. 48, she came to reside with her brother, and the ugliest rumors were afloat as to their relationship, both among the Jews and Romans. To still these rumors, she married Ptolemon, king of Cilicia, but soon left him and returned to Agrippa. Later, she became the mistress of Titus, son of the emperor Vespasian. He discarded her in Rome upon becoming emperor, and she seems to have passed her last days there in the house of Agrippa. — Walker, pages 521-522.

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Agrippa II, the last of the Herods, was not even, like his predecessors , “King of the Jews.” Luke calls him simply “the king” (v.14). The domain which Caesar had first granted Herod the Great, had been cut in two, so that Archelaius was “ethnarch” over half the province. This half had again been cut in two, so that Herod Antipas was a “tetrarch,” or governor over one quarter of a province. And the present Herod had been given even less territory, including part of Galilee, but not Judea, so that he was not even “King of the Jews.” The title “king” was conferred upon him only as a courtesy. History does record, however, that he was the appointed guardian of the temple with the right to nominate the high priest.

In this all we have further evidence of the steady decline of the nation Israel. For years the kings of Israel, who should have come from the royal line of David, and the high priests, who should have come from the priestly line of Aaron, had been appointed by heathen emperors; the Emperor directly appointing the king, giving the king, in turn, the power to name the high priest. But these Herods not only lacked the royal blood of David’s line; they were Idumaeans, aliens by birth, though they did go through the motions of embracing the Jewish religion. — Stam, pages 116-117.

greet (v.13) — a formal state visit by a local king to the new Roman governor

Festus consulted with Agrippa about Paul because the king was familiar with both Jewish and Roman customs

judgment (v.15) — condemnation

religion (v.19) — can mean “superstition”

Augustus (v.21) — The Greek word (Sebastos) is the equivalent of the Latin “Augustus,” a title conferred on the first emperor Octavian Caesar, and inherited by his successors. It was regarded as one of peculiar honor and sacredness. Indeed, the Greek form of it is derived from the root “to worship,” and suggests more than human glory. Festus, most likely, purposely spoke of “the Augustus” in addressing a vassal king, the better to enhance the emperor’s dignity and claims. The nearest modern representative of it would be “his imperial majesty.” — Walker, page 525.