Acts 23

http://www.esvbible.org/Acts+23/

While Paul stood before the council, he said that he had a clear conscience about everything he said about the Lord. At that moment, someone strikes Paul, and Paul loses it. He calls them hypocrites and asks how they can strike one of their own for supposedly breaking Moses's teachings when the very strike itself breaks Moses's teachings. Some members of the council were Pharisees while others were Sadducees. When they begin discussing what Paul has done, an intense fight breaks out. The Sadducees do not believe the dead will come back to life or that there are angels or spirits, but the Pharisees do believe in all of that. After the fight gets so intense that Paul's life looks endangered right on the spot, the officer takes him back to jail. There, the Lord tells him that he's done well and will do more good when he goes to Rome.

Forty Jews come up with a plot to murder Paul and ask God to curse them if they eat or drink anything before he dies. They go to the Jewish council to announce their plan. They tell the council to ask the officer to send Paul over so that they can get more information from him, but the forty will kill him before he arrives. The plan would have worked, but one of Paul's nephews discovers the plan and warns Paul and the officer. The officer calls together two of his best men and has them assemble a team to take Paul to the governor. Because this case gets so complicated, the officer decides to let the governor decide what to do. God has promised that Paul will do great things in Rome, and so he spares Paul's life in Jerusalem.