Acts 25:4

4. Festus answered Festus, in Acts 25:16, reports himself to have given a nobler answer than Luke here narrates. That report shows that he could conceive what the magnanimous course would be; but that report (Acts 25:15) also says that they asked summary judgment against Paul untried. Both answers may therefore have really been made. The Jews probably first asked as a favour (Acts 25:15) that Paul might be executed without farther trial, and to that Festus gave (Acts 25:16) his peremptory Roman negative. They then requested that he be sent to Jerusalem to be tried, which appeared not an unreasonable request. But Festus’ suspicions of foul play, being awakened by their first bloody request, he gave them (Acts 25:4) a gentle refusal.

Paul should be kept Rather, Paul is kept, or in custody, a gentler form of refusal than the translation implies: “Paul is secure in Cesarea; I must soon be there; there let his trial be.”