[Acts 26]

 

             {Aug., AD 61. Paul before Agrippa.}

             ^26:1 Now Agrippa was saying to Paul, It is permitted^* for you to speak on behalf of yourself. Then Paul stretched out the hand and was making his defense. ^26:2 Concerning all of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I have deemed myself fortunate today, being about to make my defense in front of you; ^26:3 especially because you are an expert of all things according-to the things of the Jews, both customs and debates. Hence, I beseech of you to hear me patiently.

             ^26:4 Therefore, my lifestyle indeed which happened from my youth up, from the beginning in my own nation and in Jerusalem, all the Jews know this. ^26:5 If they should wish to testify (knowing me beforehand, from the start), I lived as a Pharisee according-to the strictest sect of our religion. ^26:6 And now I am standing here, being judged in regard to the hope of the promise which came^* by God to the fathers; ^26:7 to which our twelve tribes, intensely giving-divine-service to God night and day, are hoping to achieve concerning which hope I am accused by the Jews, O king Agrippa!

               ^26:8 Why is it judged as unbelievable with you^°, if God is raising the dead?

             ^26:9 Therefore, I indeed thought to myself, for it to be essential for me to practice many things adverse to the name of Jesus of the Nazarenes. ^26:10 This is what I also practiced in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the holy-ones in prisons, after I received authority from the high-priests, and I brought my voting-pebble {i.e., vote} against them, before they were assassinated. ^26:11 And punishing them often throughout all the synagogues, I was urging them to blaspheme, and being exceptionally enraged with them, I was persecuting them, as far as possible, even to the cities outside our nation.

 

                          {Examples of those who are saved in the New Testament: Acts 2:14-42; 8:5-13; 8:30-39; 10:34-48; 16:13-15; 16:25-34; 18:8a; 18:8b; 19:1-7; Saul/Apostle Paul: 9:17-18, 22:6-16, 26:12-18.}

             ^26:12 In which also, while traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission from the high-priests, ^26:13 on the road in the middle of the day, O king, I saw a light from heaven beyond the brilliance of the sun, which shone around me and the ones traveling together-with me. ^26:14 Now after all of us fell down to the earth, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is harsh for you to kick toward cattle-prods.

             ^26:15 But I said, Who are you, Lord?

             But the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ^26:16 But rise^* and stand upon your feet; for^* to this end, I was seen by you, to assign you to be an attendant and a witness both of the things which you saw, and of the things which will be seen by you. ^26:17 I will be liberating you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, ^26:18 to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness into light, and from the authority of the Adversary to God, in order for them to receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among the ones who have been made holy in faith, the faith in me.

             ^26:19 Hence, O King Agrippa, I did not become disobedient to the heavenly vision. ^26:20 But I was proclaiming first to them in Damascus, and in Jerusalem, and then to all the region of Judea and to the Gentiles, to repent and to turn to God, practicing works worthy of repentance. ^26:21 Because of these things, the Jews took me in the temple and were attempting to exterminate me. ^26:22 Therefore, when I obtained the assistance which is from God, I am standing till this day, testifying both to the little and to the great, saying nothing outside of what both the prophets and Moses spoke of being about to happen. ^26:23 If the suffering Christ, if the Christ was first from the resurrection of the dead, then he is about to proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.

             ^26:24 Now he makes his defense with these things.

             Festus was saying with a loud voice, Paul, you are insane; your many scholarships is turning you into an insane person.

             ^26:25 But Paul says, I am not insane, most-excellent Festus, but I am speaking out the words of truth and self-discipline. ^26:26 For^* the king knows concerning these things, with whom I am also speaking boldly; for^* I am saying: I am persuaded that not any of these things were done^* to elude him; for^* this thing has not been done^* in a corner. ^26:27 King Agrippa, Do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.

             ^26:28 But Agrippa was saying to Paul, Are you persuading me to become a Christian in few words?

             ^26:29 But Paul said, I would pray to God, that both in a few words and in many words, not only you, but also all who hear me today, are to become such: what sort of person I am, except-for these bonds.

             ^26:30 And after he said these things, the king and the governor and Bernice and the ones sitting together-with them stood up ^26:31 and departed, they were speaking to one another, saying, This man is practicing nothing worthy of death or bonds.

             ^26:32 But Agrippa was saying to Festus, This man was able to have been released, if he had not appealed to Caesar.