16
âNow get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.
17
I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them
18
to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.â
19
âSo then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.
20
First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.
21
That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.
22
But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happenâ
23
that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.â
24
At this point Festus interrupted Paulâs defense. âYou are out of your mind, Paul!â he shouted. âYour great learning is driving you insane.â
25
âI am not insane, most excellent Festus,â Paul replied. âWhat I am saying is true and reasonable.
26
The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner.