Acts of the Apostles 26

Paul before Agrippa

1Agrippa said to Paul, “You have leave to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense: 2“King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to be making my defense before you today against everything the Jews accuse me of, 3above all because you are an expert in all the customs and disputes of the Jews. So I beg you to hear me patiently. 4My way of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known to all the Jews. 5They have known me for a long time and could testify, if they were willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, by the strictest party of our religion. 6And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise God made to our ancestors — 7the promise our twelve tribes hope to see fulfilled as they worship with all earnestness night and day. It is for this hope, Your Majesty, that I am accused by Jews. 8Why should any of you find it incredible that God raises the dead? 9I myself was once convinced that I had to do everything I could against the name of Jesus the Nazarene. 10That is what I did in Jerusalem: with authority from the chief priests I locked up many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. 11Time and again, in one synagogue after another, I punished them and tried to force them to blaspheme; in my raging fury against them I hunted them even in foreign cities.

The road to Damascus, told again

12On one such journey I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, 13and at midday, Your Majesty, I saw on the road a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 16But get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as my servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and of what I will show you. 17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you 18to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, and receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those made holy by faith in me.’ 19And so, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the vision from heaven. 20First to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the country of Judea, and to the Gentiles, I announced that they should repent and turn to God, doing the deeds that go with repentance. 21That is why the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22But I have had God’s help to this very day, and here I stand, testifying to small and great alike, saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen: 23that the Christ must suffer, and that as the first to rise from the dead he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

Almost a Christian

24As Paul was making this defense, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you insane!” 25“I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus,” Paul answered. “What I am speaking is sober truth. 26The king knows about these matters, and I speak to him freely. I cannot believe that any of this has escaped him, for none of it happened in a corner. 27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.” 28Agrippa said to Paul, “So quickly you would make a Christian of me!” 29Paul answered, “Quickly or slowly, I would pray to God that not only you but everyone listening to me today might become what I am — except for these chains.” 30Then the king rose, and the governor, and Bernice, and those seated with them, 31and as they withdrew they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing that deserves death or imprisonment.” 32Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”