Acts 26 - LSB Bible Online

Acts 26

^aNow Agrippa said to Paul, “You are ¹permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul, stretching out his hand, began to make his defense:
2 “Concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I regard myself blessed, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today; 3 ¹especially because you are an expert in all ^acustoms and ²questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.
4 “So then, all Jews know ^amy manner of life from my youth, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem; 5 since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a ^aPharisee ^baccording to the strictest ^csect of our religion. 6 And now I am standing here being tried ^afor the hope of ^bthe promise made by God to our fathers; 7 the promise ^ato which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this ^bhope, O King, I am being ^caccused by Jews. 8 Why is it considered unbelievable among all of you ^aif God does raise the dead?
9 “So then, ^aI thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to ^bthe name of Jesus the Nazarene. 10 And this is ¹just what I ^adid in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the ²saints in prisons, having ^breceived authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I ^ccast my vote against them. 11 And ^aas I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being ^bfuriously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them ^ceven to ¹foreign cities.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

12 “¹While so engaged ^aas I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, 13 at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, ¹brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. 14 And when we had ^aall fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the ¹^bHebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? ²It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise up and ^astand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to ^bappoint you a ^cservant and ^da witness not only to the things which you have ¹seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; 17 ^arescuing you ^bfrom the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, 18 to ^aopen their eyes so that they may turn from ^bdarkness to light and from the authority of ^cSatan to God, that they may receive ^dforgiveness of sins and an ^einheritance among those who have been sanctified by ^ffaith in Me.’
19 “So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but kept declaring both ^ato those of Damascus first, and also ^bat Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even ^cto the Gentiles, that they should ^drepent and turn to God, practicing deeds ^eappropriate to repentance. 21 For this reason some Jews ^aseized me in the temple and were trying ^bto put me to death. 22 Therefore, having obtained help from God to this day, I stand here ^abearing witness both to small and great, stating nothing but what ^bthe Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; 23 ¹^athat the ²Christ was ³to suffer, and ¹that ^bas first of the resurrection from the dead, He was going to proclaim ^clight both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
24 Now while ¹Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus *said in a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind! ²Great ^alearning is driving you out of your mind.” 25 But Paul *said, “I am not out of my mind, ^amost excellent Festus, but I utter words ¹of sober truth. 26 For the king ¹^aknows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a ²corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know you believe.” 28 But Agrippa replied to Paul, “¹In such short time ²are you persuading me to become a ^aChristian?” 29 And Paul said, “I would pray to God, that whether ¹in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these ^achains.”
30 ^aAnd the king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them, 31 and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying, “^aThis man is not doing anything worthy of death or ¹imprisonment.” 32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been ^aset free if he had not ^bappealed to Caesar.”

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