Acts 26 (New American Standard)

Paul's Defense before Agrippa

1 ¹Agrippa said to Paul, "You are permitted to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense : 2 "In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today ; 3 ^aespecially because you are an expert in all ²customs and ^bquestions among the Jews ; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. 4 "So then, all Jews know ³my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem ; 5 since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a ⁴Pharisee ⁵according to the strictest ⁶sect of our religion. 6 "And now I am ^cstanding trial ⁷for the hope of ⁸the promise made by God to our fathers ; 7 the promise ⁹to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this ¹⁰hope, O King, I am being ¹¹accused by Jews. 8 "Why is it considered incredible among you people ¹²if God does raise the dead ? 9 "So then, ¹³I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to ¹⁴the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 "And this is ^djust what I ¹⁵did in Jerusalem ; not only did I lock up many of the ^esaints in prisons, having ¹⁶received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I ¹⁷cast my vote against them. 11 "And ¹⁸as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme ; and being ¹⁹furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them ²⁰even to ^fforeign cities. 12 "^gWhile so engaged ²¹as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, 13 at midday , O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, ^hbrighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. 14 "And when we had ²²all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the ⁱ²³Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? ^jIt is hard for you to kick against the goads.' 15 "And I said, 'Who are You, Lord ?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 'But get up and ²⁴stand on your feet ; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to ²⁵appoint you a ²⁶minister and ²⁷a witness not only to the things which you have ^kseen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; 17 ²⁸rescuing you ²⁹from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, 18 to ³⁰open their eyes so that they may turn from ³¹darkness to light and from the dominion of ³²Satan to God, that they may receive ³³forgiveness of sins and an ³⁴inheritance among those who have been sanctified by ³⁵faith in Me.' 19 "So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but kept declaring both ³⁶to those of Damascus first, and also ³⁷at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even ³⁸to the Gentiles, that they should ³⁹repent and turn to God, performing deeds ⁴⁰appropriate to repentance. 21 "For this reason some Jews ⁴¹seized me in the temple and tried ⁴²to put me to death. 22 "So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day ⁴³testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what ⁴⁴the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place ; 23 ^l45that ^mthe Christ was ⁿto suffer, and ^othat ⁴⁶by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim ⁴⁷light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." 24 While Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind ! ^pYour great ⁴⁸learning is ^qdriving you mad." 25 But Paul said, "I am not out of my mind, ⁴⁹most excellent Festus, but I utter words ^rof sober truth. 26 "For the king ^s50knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice ; for this has not been done in a ^tcorner. 27 "King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets ? I know that you ^udo." 28 Agrippa replied to Paul, "^vIn a short time you ^wwill persuade me to ^xbecome a ⁵¹Christian." 29 And Paul said, "^yI would wish to God, that whether ^zin a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these ⁵²chains." 30 ⁵³The king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them, 31 and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying, "⁵⁴This man is not doing anything worthy of death or ^aaimprisonment." 32 And Agrippa said to Festus, "This man might have been ⁵⁵set free if he had not ⁵⁶appealed to Caesar."