Acts 26:1

Paul Makes His Defense Before King Agrippa

1 So Agrippa said to Paul, "It is permitted for you to speak for yourself." Then Paul extended [his] hand [and] began to defend himself:

Acts 26:1 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 26:1

Then Agrippa said unto Paul
After Festus had made the above speech to him, and to all present, and had introduced the affair of Paul, who now stood before them:

thou art permitted to speak for thyself;
which a prisoner might not do, until he had leave; and this leave was granted by Festus the Roman governor, who was properly the judge, and not Agrippa, though the permission might be by both; and so the Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, "we have ordered", or "permitted thee"

Then Paul stretched forth the hand;
as orators used to do, when they were about to speak; or else to require silence; or it may be to show the freedom of his mind, and how ready he was to embrace the opportunity of pleading his own cause; being conscious to himself of his innocence, and relying on the ingenuity and integrity of his judge; and especially of the king, before whom he stood:

and answered for himself;
or made an apology, or spoke in vindication of himself, in order to remove the charges brought against him.

Acts 26:1 In-Context

1 So Agrippa said to Paul, "It is permitted for you to speak for yourself." Then Paul extended [his] hand [and] began to defend himself:

2 "Concerning all [the things] of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate [that] before you I am about to defend myself today,

3 [because] you are especially acquainted with both all the customs and controversial questions with respect to the Jews. Therefore I beg [you] to listen to me with patience.

4 "Now all the Jews know my manner of life from [my] youth, that had taken place from the beginning among my [own] people and in Jerusalem,

5 having known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that in accordance with the strictest party of our religion I lived [as] a Pharisee.

Footnotes

• [a] *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
• [b] *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("extended") has been translated as a finite verb
• [c] *The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began to defend himself")