Acts 26

26Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and ^aanswered for himself:

²I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall ^aanswer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am ^baccused of the Jews: ³Especially because I know thee to be expert in all ^ccustoms and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. ⁴My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; ⁵Which knew me ^dfrom the beginning, if they would testify, ^ethat after ^fthe most straitest sect of our ^greligion I lived ^ha Pharisee. ⁶And now I stand and am judged for ⁱthe hope of ^jthe promise made of God unto our fathers: ⁷Unto which promise ^kour twelve tribes, ^linstantly serving ^mGod ^†day and night, hope ⁿto come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am ^baccused of the Jews. ⁸Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? ⁹I verily thought with myself, ^othat I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ^10pWhich thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the ^qsaints did I shut up in prison, having ^rreceived authority from the chief priests; and ^swhen they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. ¹¹And ^tI punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and ^ubeing exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. ^12wWhereupon ^xas I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, ¹³At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. ¹⁴And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in ^ythe Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. ¹⁵And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. ¹⁶But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to ^zmake thee ^aa minister and a ^bwitness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; ¹⁷Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, ^cunto whom now I send thee, ^18dTo open their eyes, and to turn them ^efrom darkness to light, and from the ^fpower of Satan unto God, that they may receive ^gforgiveness of sins, and ^hinheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. ¹⁹Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: ²⁰But shewed ⁱfirst unto them of Damascus, and ^kat Jerusalem, and ^lthroughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then ^mto the Gentiles, that they should repent and ⁿturn to God, and do works ^omeet for repentance. ²¹For these causes ^pthe Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. ²²Having therefore obtained ^qhelp of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to ^rsmall and great, saying none other things than those which ^sthe prophets and ^sMoses did say should come: ²³That Christ ^tshould suffer, and that he should be ^uthe first that should rise from the dead, and should shew ^xlight unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

²⁴And as he thus ^yspake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, ^zthou art beside thyself; much ^alearning doth make thee mad. ²⁵But he said, I am not ^zcmad, ^bmost noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and ^csoberness. ²⁶For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I ^dspeak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner. ²⁷King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. ²⁸Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a ^eChristian. ²⁹And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except ^fthese bonds. ³⁰And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and ^gthe governor, and ^hBernice, and ^hthey that sat with them: ³¹And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, ⁱThis man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. ³²Then said Agrippa unto Festus, ^jThis man might have been set at liberty, if he had not ^kappealed unto Caesar.