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ActsChapter 26

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Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:
"King Agrippa, I count myself fortunate that today I am to stand before you and make my defense concerning all the charges the Jews bring against me,
especially since you are so well acquainted with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. I ask you, therefore, to hear me patiently.
All the Jews know the way I have lived from my youth, from the very beginning, both among my own people and in Jerusalem.
They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, according to the strictest party of our religion.
And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise God made to our fathers—
the promise our twelve tribes hope to attain as they worship earnestly night and day. It is for this hope, O king, that I am accused by the Jews.
Why should any of you think it incredible that God raises the dead?
I myself was convinced that I ought to do everything possible against the name of Jesus of Nazareth,
and that is what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of 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.
Again and again I punished them in all the synagogues and tried to force them to blaspheme. In my raging fury against them I even pursued them to cities abroad.
On one such journey I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
About midday, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.
It is hard for you to kick against the goads." [Footnote: A goad was a sharp-pointed stick used to drive oxen; the saying pictures the futility of resisting.]
I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
But get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as a servant and witness of what you have seen of me and of what I will show you.
I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them
to 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 sanctified by faith in me.'
And so, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
Instead, I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the whole region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
That is why the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.
But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stand here testifying to small and great alike, saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen:
that the Christ must suffer, and that as the first to rise from the dead he would proclaim light both to the people of Israel and to the Gentiles."
While Paul was making this defense, Festus said in a loud voice, "You are out of your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane."
"I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus," Paul replied. "What I am saying is true and sensible.
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 some corner.
King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do."
Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think you can make me a Christian in such a short time?"
Paul answered, "Short time or long, I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today might become what I am—except for these chains."
The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those seated with them.
As they withdrew, they said to one another, "This man has done nothing deserving death or imprisonment."
And Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."
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