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The Acts of the Apostles 26

26 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now speak on your own behalf.” Then Paul held out his hand to show that he was about to speak. He defended himself by saying, 2 “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I can explain myself to you today. I will tell you why the Jewish leaders are wrong when they say that I have done bad things. 3 I am especially fortunate because you know so much about the customs of us Jews and the questions that we argue about. So please listen to me as I tell my whole story.”

4 “My fellow Jews know how I have lived my life since the time I was a child. They know that I have always lived among Jews and that I received my education in Jerusalem. 5 They have known me since I was young. They could tell you, if they were willing, that as a Pharisee, I obeyed the most rigid customs of our religion very carefully. 6 Today I am on trial because I am confidently expecting that God will do what he promised to our ancestors. 7 Our 12 Jewish tribes are also waiting confidently for God to do what he promised. That is why they continue to honor him and worship him so diligently. And yet, Honored King, these Jewish leaders are saying that I have done wrong because I too am waiting confidently. 8 None of you should find it hard to believe that God would cause people who had died to live again.

9 But I will admit that I too once found it hard to believe. I was sure that I should do everything that I could to stop people from believing in Jesus from the town of Nazareth. 10 So that is what I did when I lived in Jerusalem. I put many of the believers in prison. The chief priests there had given me the power to do that. And when the Sanhedrin was deciding whether to kill believers, I voted in favor of that. 11 I continually punished believers in Jesus in every synagogue where I could find them. I tried to force them to say that they did not believe in Jesus. I was so angry with them that I even went to foreign cities to find them.

12 Because I told them I wanted to arrest believers in Damascus, the chief priests gave me the power to do that. So I traveled to Damascus. 13 While I was on my way there, O King, I saw a bright light in the sky. Even though it was around noon, this light was even brighter than the sun! It shone all around me and also around those who were traveling with me. 14 We all fell to the ground. Then I heard the voice of someone speaking to me in the Hebrew language. He said, ‘Saul, Saul, you should not be fighting against me. You are harming yourself, like an animal that is kicking against a sharp prod.’ 15 Then I said, ‘Please tell me who you are.’ And the person who was speaking to me said, ‘I am Jesus! I am the one you are fighting against. 16 But get up off the ground now. I have appeared to you in order to make you my servant. I want you to tell other people who I am, now that you have seen me. I will show you more about myself later, and I want you to tell others about that too. 17 I am sending you both to Jewish people and to non-Jewish people. I will protect you from them. 18 I want you to help them recognize who I really am. I want you to help them to live in a way that pleases God. I want them to know that God can make them free from the devil’s influence. I want them to know that God will forgive their sins. I want them to receive the good things that people whom God saves because they believe in me will have forever.

19 So, King Agrippa, I did what God told me to do when he gave me that vision. 20 First, I spoke to the Jews in Damascus. Then I spoke to the Jews in Jerusalem and in the countryside of Judea. I also spoke to the non-Jews there. I told them that they should stop sinning and ask God to help them live in the right way. I told them they should do things that showed they had stopped sinning.

21 It is because I preached this message that some Jews seized me when I was in the temple courtyard and tried to kill me. 22 Because God has been helping me, I have been able to keep proclaiming these things to this very day. I have continued to tell people, regardless of their status, exactly what the prophets and Moses said would happen. 23 They said that the Messiah would suffer and die. They said that he would be the first person to live again after he had died. They also said that he would tell people how God was able to save them. He would tell this, both to his own Jewish people and to non-Jewish people.”

24 Before Paul could say anything further to defend himself, Festus shouted out loudly, “Paul, you are crazy! You have studied too much, and that has made you crazy!” 25 But Paul answered, “Your Excellency, Governor Festus, I am not insane! On the contrary, what I am saying is true and quite sane! 26 I can assure you that I am not crazy, because King Agrippa is familiar with the things I have been talking about so enthusiastically to him. I am very sure that he is aware of all of these things. They all happened very publicly. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe what the prophets wrote? I know that you believe those things.” 28 Then Agrippa answered Paul, “I would need to hear much more than this to decide to become a Christian!” 29 Paul replied, “Perhaps you need to hear more, or perhaps you could decide now. But either way, I pray to God that you and all of the others who are listening to me today will become like me, except for these chains!”

30 Then King Agrippa stood up. The governor, Bernice, and all the other important people who had come in with them also got up 31 and left the room. After they left, they said to each other, “We should not execute this man or keep him in prison. He has done nothing to deserve that.” 32 Then Agrippa said to Festus, “If this man had not appealed to Caesar, you could have released him.”

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