Bible Verses About Trial

There was a man who was the son of a woman of Isra'el and an Egyptian father. He went out among the people of Isra'el, and this son of a woman of Isra'el had a fight in the camp with a man of Isra'el,

in the course of which the son of the woman of Isra'el uttered the Name [Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh] in a curse. So they brought him to Moshe. (His mother's name was Shlomit the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)

They put him under guard until ADONAI would tell them what to do.

ADONAI said to Moshe,

"Take the man who cursed outside the camp, have everyone who heard him lay their hands on his head, and have the entire community stone him.

“Our Torah doesn’t condemn a man — does it? — until after hearing from him and finding out what he’s doing.”

But Sha’ul said to the officers, “After flogging us in public when we hadn’t been convicted of any crime and are Roman citizens, they threw us in prison. Now they want to get rid of us secretly? Oh, no! Let them come and escort us out themselves!”

The officers reported these words to the judges, who became frightened when they heard that Sha’ul and Sila were Roman citizens.

They came and apologized to them; then, after escorting them out, requested them to leave the city.

But as they were stretching him out with thongs to be flogged, Sha’ul said to the captain standing by, “Is it legal for you to whip a man who is a Roman citizen and hasn’t even had a trial?”

When the captain heard that, he went and reported it to the commander, “Do you realize what you’re doing? This man is a Roman citizen!”

The commander came and said to Sha’ul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said.

The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a sizeable sum of money.” “But I was born to it,” Sha’ul said.

At once the men who had been about to interrogate him drew back from him; and the commander was afraid too, because he realized that he had put this man who was a Roman citizen in chains.

However, the next day, since he wanted to know the specific charge the Judeans were bringing against him, he released him and ordered the head cohanim and the whole Sanhedrin to meet. Then he brought Sha’ul down and put him in front of them.