Acts 25:4

Acts 25:4. But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept at Cæsarea, and that he himself would depart shortly thither. The original Greek here somewhat changes the character of the governor's reply to the Jewish national party. In the English the words are somewhat curt and abrupt. In the Greek, they are perfectly courteous, and even conciliatory. ‘But Festus answered that Paul was kept' (not ‘should be kept'), that is to say, as he was in prison then, and that as he, Festus, was on the point of going down to Cæsarea himself, it was not worth while to bring the prisoner up to Jerusalem now.