Acts 26 — BSB
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Paul’s Testimony to Agrippa
26Verse 1Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:Verse 2“King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today to defend myself against all the accusations of the Jews,Verse 3especially since you are acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I beg you, therefore, to listen to me patiently.Verse 4Surely all the Jews know how I have lived from my earliest childhood among my own people, and also in Jerusalem.Verse 5They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion.Verse 6And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise that God made to our fathers,Verse 7the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. It is because of this hope, O king, that I am accused by the Jews.Verse 8Why would any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?Verse 9So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.Verse 10And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them.Verse 11I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.Verse 12In this pursuit I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.Verse 13About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions.Verse 14We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew,+‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’Verse 15‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked.
‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.Verse 16‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you.Verse 17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to themVerse 18to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’Verse 19So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.Verse 20First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.Verse 21For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts+and tried to kill me.Verse 22But I have had God’s help to this day, and I stand here to testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen:Verse 23that the Christ would suffer, and as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”