Bible Strands
Acts 25:12
Then Festus conferred with his council and replied, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Festus addresses Paul after his advisory council reviews the case. The declaration follows Paul’s formal appeal to Caesar in Acts 25:11 and occurs before King Agrippa and Bernice arrive in Caesarea in Acts 25:13.
The words — συλλαλησας (sullalēsas) means “having conferred,” describing Festus’s consultation with his council before responding. ἀπεκρίθη (apekrithē) translates as “answered,” marking the official legal reply to the prisoner’s petition.
The thread — The pattern of imperial procedure redirecting toward gospel advancement appears in Acts 19:21, Philippians 1:12, and Philippians 1:20.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that legal chains and political appeals function as the actual mechanism of divine movement. It asks the reader to accept sovereign direction through institutional processes rather than demanding miraculous bypasses.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto Cesar? unto Cesar shalt thou go.
Cross-references
- Acts 19:21 After these things had happened, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well.”
- Philippians 1:12 Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel.
- Philippians 1:20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
- Psalms 76:10 Even the wrath of man shall praise You; with the survivors of wrath You will clothe Yourself.
- Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Lamentations 3:37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
- Daniel 4:35 All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
- Acts 23:11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so also you must testify in Rome.”
- Acts 25:21 But when Paul appealed to be held over for the decision of the Emperor, I ordered that he be held until I could send him to Caesar.”
- Acts 26:32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”