Acts 24:22–24:27, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Acts 24:22–24:27
Felix delays while seeking money and favor
Knowledge, fear, a hoped bribe, and political favor keep a man in hold
Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the Way, postpones the case until Lysias comes. He orders Paul kept with some liberty and access for friends. After some days he comes with his wife Drusilla, a Jewess, and hears Paul concerning faith in Christ Jesus. As Paul reasons about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix becomes afraid and sends him away until a convenient time. He also hopes for money from Paul and so summons him often. After two years, wanting to grant the Judeans a favor, Felix leaves Paul bound when Porcius Festus succeeds him.
Administrative knowledge, fear, corruption, and favor-seeking sit in one official. Drusilla is present; her perspective is not recorded. A whole population is not guilty of a governor's delay. Guarded liberty is still imperial detention, not a ministry platform to be envied.
How this should shape us
Expose detention prolonged for bribery or political convenience. Support people trapped by mixed motives in a system, and do not spiritualize a trembling official into either conversion or collective blame.
Teach it back
Explain Acts 24:22–24:27 in your own words, naming its movement, speaker or narrator role, one source-controlled detail, one uncertainty, one affected person, and one conclusion the passage does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Acts 24:22–24:27, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
SBLGNT official text, Acts 24:22-24:27
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 24:22-24:27
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 24:22–24:27
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'The Gospel, the Romans, the Jews,' Acts 24-28 study guide
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 24:22–24:27
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 24:22–24:27, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Supports: Roman law-enforcement comparison with explicit local variation and limits on reconstructing procedure.
Brelaz, JSNT 43.4 (2021), complete open HTML, section 1 and the named provincial, custody, citizenship, hearing, or conclusion paragraphs bearing on Acts 24:22–24:27
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 24:22–24:27, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 24:22-24:27
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 24:22-24:27
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 24:22–24:27
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'The Gospel, the Romans, the Jews,' Acts 24-28 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 24:22–24:27
Open source ↗peer reviewed article abstract and metadata
The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish
Joshua Paul Smith
The Journal of Theological Studies 72.2, 2021
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 24:22–24:27, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Exact location: Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Provincial Contexts of Paul's Imprisonments: Law Enforcement and Criminal Procedure in the Roman East
Cedric Brelaz
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 43.4, 2021
Supports: Roman law-enforcement comparison with explicit local variation and limits on reconstructing procedure.
Exact location: Brelaz, JSNT 43.4 (2021), complete open HTML, section 1 and the named provincial, custody, citizenship, hearing, or conclusion paragraphs bearing on Acts 24:22–24:27
Open source ↗