¹⁶Stand up! I have appeared to you for a reason. I’m appointing you to be a servant and witness of what you have seen and of what I will show you. ¹⁷I will rescue you from the Jewish people and from the non-Jewish people to whom I am sending you. ¹⁸You will open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan’s control to God’s. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and a share among God’s people who are made holy by believing in me.’

¹⁹“At that point I did not disobey the vision I saw from heaven, King Agrippa. ²⁰Instead, I spread the message that I first told to the ⸤Jewish⸥ people in Damascus and Jerusalem and throughout the whole country of Judea. I spread the same message to non-Jewish people. Both groups were expected to change the way they thought and acted and to turn to God. I told them to do things that prove they had changed their lives. ²¹For this reason the Jews took me prisoner in the temple courtyard and tried to murder me.

²²“God has been helping me to this day so that I can stand and testify to important and unimportant people. I tell them only what the prophets and Moses said would happen. ²³They said that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to come back to life and would spread light to Jewish and non-Jewish people.”

²⁴As Paul was defending himself in this way, Festus shouted, “Paul, you’re crazy! Too much education is driving you crazy!”

²⁵Paul replied, “I’m not crazy, Your Excellency Festus. What I’m saying is true and sane. ²⁶I can easily speak to a king who knows about these things. I’m sure that none of these things has escaped his attention. None of this was done secretly. ²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe them!”

²⁸Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think you can quickly persuade me to become a Christian?”

²⁹Paul replied, “I wish to God that you and everyone listening to me today would quickly and completely become as I am (except for being a prisoner).”

³⁰The king, the governor, Bernice, and the people who were sitting with them got up. ³¹As they were leaving, they said to each other, “This man isn’t doing anything for which he deserves to die or be put in prison.”

³²Agrippa told Festus, “This man could have been set free if he hadn’t appealed his case to the emperor.”

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