In the peaceful hours of the night, while the Lord was visiting his discouraged servant, the enemies of Paul were eagerly plotting his destruction. “And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy.” Here was such a fast as the Lord through Isaiah had condemned many years before,—a fast “for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness.” The Jews thus sought to give to their diabolical plan the sanction of religion. Having fortified themselves by their dreadful oath, they came to the chief priests and members of the Sanhedrim, and made known their purpose. It was proposed to request that Paul be again brought before the court as if for a further investigation of his case, and that the assassins would lie in wait and murder him while on his way from the fortress. Such was the horrible crime masked under a show of religious zeal. Instead of rebuking the Satanic scheme, the priests and rulers eagerly acceded to it. Paul had spoken the truth when he compared Ananias to a whited sepulcher. {LP 225.1}

I nattens fredfyldte timer, medens Herren besøgte sin modløse tjener, var Paulus fjender ivrig efter at lægge planer om hans udslettelse. “Da det var blevet dag, rottede jøderne sig sammen og forpligtede sig under forbandelser til hverken at nyde vådt eller tørt, før de havde slået Paulus ihjel. Der var mere end fyrretyve mand, som havde indgået denne sammensværgelse." Her var en sådan faste som Herren gennem Esajas havde fordømt for mange år siden, en faste “til strid og kiv, til hug med gudløse næver." Sådan søgte Jøderne at give deres ulydige plan en billigelse af religion. Idet de havde bestyrket sig selv med deres frygtelige ed, kom de til ypperstepræsterne og medlemmer af Sanhedrim, og bekendtgjorde deres planer. Det var på tale at anmode om at Paulus igen kom frem for retssalen, som om hans sag skulle undersøges yderlige, og at hans attentatsmænd ville ligge og vente at slå ham ihjel, medens han var på vej fra fæstningen. En så grufuld forbrydelse var under dække af religiøs iver. I stedet for at irettesætte den sataniske plan, gik præsterne og herskerne ind i det. Paulus havde sagt sandheden, da han sammenlignede Ananias med en kalket væg.