1
Agrippa said to Paul, "You're free to speak for yourself." Paul acknowledged King Agrippa and then began his defense.
2
"King Agrippa, I think I'm fortunate today to stand in front of you and defend myself against every charge that the Jews brought against me.
3
I say this since you are especially familiar with every custom and controversy in Judaism. So I ask you to listen patiently to me.
4
"All the Jews know how I lived the earliest days of my youth with my own people and in Jerusalem.
5
They've known me for a long time and can testify, if they're willing, that I followed the strictest party of our religion. They know that I lived my life as a Pharisee.
6
"I'm on trial now because I expect God to keep the promise that he made to our ancestors.
7
Our twelve tribes expect this promise to be kept as they worship with intense devotion day and night. Your Majesty, the Jews are making accusations against me because I expect God to keep his promise.
8
Why do all of you refuse to believe that God can bring dead people back to life?
9
"I used to think that I had to do a lot of things to oppose the one named Jesus of Nazareth.
10
That is what I did in Jerusalem. By the authority I received from the chief priests, I locked many Christians in prison. I voted to have them killed every time a vote was taken.
11
I even went to each synagogue, punished believers, and forced them to curse [the name of Jesus]. In my furious rage against them, I hunted them down in cities outside [Jerusalem].