1
Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself."
So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense:
2
"King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today
as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews,
3
and especially so because you are weill acquainted with all the Jewish
customs and contoversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.
4
"The Jews all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child,
from the beginning of my life in my own country, nd also in Jerusalem.
5
They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing,
that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.
6
And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers
that I am on trial today.
7
This si the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled
as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it is because of this hope
that the Jews are accusing me.
8
Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
9
"I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible
to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10
And that is just what I did in jerusalem.
On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison,
and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
11
Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished,
and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them,
I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.
12
"On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority
and commission of the chief priests.
13
About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven,
brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.
14
We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,
'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
15
"Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?'
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied.
16
'Now 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 of me and what I will show you.
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.'
19
"SO 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 to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God
and prove their repentance by their deeds.
21
That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.
22
But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify
to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets
and Moses said would happen -
23
that the Christ would suffer and as the first to rise from the dead,
would proclaim light to his own peoplw and to the Gentiles."
24
At this point Festus interrupted Paul's defense.
"You are out of your mind, Paul!" he shouted.
"Your great learning is driving you insane."
25
"I am not insane, most excellent Festus," Paul replied.
"What 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.
27
King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do."
28
Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time
you can persuade me to be a Chtistian?"
29
Paul replied, "Short time or long - I pray God that not only you but all who are
listening today become what I am, except for these chains."
30
The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them.
31
They left the room, and while talking with one another, they said,
"This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment."
32
Agrippa said to Festus,
"This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."
