Acts 26:2-23

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 especially because you are an expert in all ¹customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

4 "So then, all Jews know ²my 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 ³Pharisee ⁴according to the strictest ⁵sect of our religion.

6 "And now I am standing trial ⁶for the hope of ⁷the promise made by God to our fathers;

7 the promise ⁸to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly * serve God night and day. And for this ⁹hope, O King, I am being ¹⁰accused by Jews.

8 "Why is it considered incredible among you people ¹¹if God does raise the dead?

9 "So then, ¹²I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to ¹³the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

10 "And this is just what I ¹⁴did in Jerusalem; not only * did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having ¹⁵received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I ¹⁶cast my vote against them.

11 "And ¹⁷as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being ¹⁸furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them ¹⁹even to foreign cities.

12 "While so engaged ²⁰as 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, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.

14 "And when we had ²¹all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the ²²Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It 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 ²³stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to ²⁴appoint you a ²⁵minister and ²⁶a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you;

17 ²⁷rescuing you ²⁸from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,

18 to ²⁹open their eyes so that they may turn from ³⁰darkness to light and from the dominion of ³¹Satan to God, that they may receive ³²forgiveness of sins and an ³³inheritance among those who have been sanctified by ³⁴faith in Me.'

19 "So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,

20 but kept declaring both ³⁵to those of Damascus first, and also ³⁶at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even ³⁷to the Gentiles, that they should ³⁸repent and turn to God, performing deeds ³⁹appropriate to repentance.

21 "For this reason some Jews ⁴⁰seized me in the temple and tried ⁴¹to put me to death.

22 "So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day ⁴²testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what ⁴³the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place;

23 ⁴⁴that the Christ was to suffer, and that ⁴⁵by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim ⁴⁶light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles."

Cross References

• 1. Acts 6:14; Acts 25:19; Acts 26:7
• 2. Galatians 1:13; Philippians 3:5
• 3. Acts 23:6; Philippians 3:5
• 4. Acts 22:3
• 5. Acts 15:5
• 6. Acts 24:15; Acts 28:20
• 7. Acts 13:32
• 8. James 1:1
• 9. Acts 24:15; Acts 28:20
• 10. Acts 26:2
• 11. Acts 23:6
• 12. John 16:2; 1 Timothy 1:13
• 13. John 15:21
• 14. Acts 8:3; Acts 9:13
• 15. Acts 9:1
• 16. Acts 22:20
• 17. Matthew 10:17; Acts 22:19
• 18. Acts 9:1
• 19. Acts 22:5
• 20. Acts 26:12-18: {Acts 9:3-8; Acts 22:6-11}
• 21. Acts 9:7
• 22. Acts 21:40
• 23. Ezekiel 2:1; Daniel 10:11
• 24. Acts 22:14
• 25. Luke 1:2
• 26. Acts 22:15
• 27. Jeremiah 1:8, 19
• 28. 1 Chronicles 16:35; Acts 9:15
• 29. Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 42:7, 16; Ephesians 5:8; Colossians 1:13; 1 Peter 2:9
• 30. John 1:5; Ephesians 5:8; Colossians 1:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:5; 1 Peter 2:9
• 31. Matthew 4:10
• 32. Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38
• 33. Acts 20:32
• 34. Acts 20:21
• 35. Acts 9:19f
• 36. Acts 9:26-29; Acts 22:17-20
• 37. Acts 9:15; Acts 13:46
• 38. Acts 3:19
• 39. Matthew 3:8; Luke 3:8
• 40. Acts 21:27, 30
• 41. Acts 21:31
• 42. Luke 16:28
• 43. Acts 10:43; Acts 24:14
• 44. Matthew 26:24; Acts 3:18
• 45. 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23; Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5
• 46. Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6; Luke 2:32; 2 Corinthians 4:4

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "because you are especially expert"
• [b]. Or "controversial issues"
• [c]. Lit "being tried"
• [d]. Lit "also"
• [e]. Or "holy ones"
• [f]. Or "outlying"
• [g]. Lit "In which things"
• [h]. Lit "above the brightness of"
• [i]. I.e. Jewish Aramaic
• [j]. An idiom referring to an animal's futile resistance to being prodded with goads
• [k]. Two early mss read "seen Me"
• [l]. Lit "whether"
• [m]. I.e. the Messiah
• [n]. Lit "subject to suffering"
• [o]. Lit "whether"