¹⁶Now get up. Stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you to serve me and be my witness. You will tell others that you have seen me today. You will also tell them that I will show myself to you again.

¹⁷“ ‘I will save you from your own people and from those who aren’t Jews. I am sending you to them ¹⁸to open their eyes. I want you to turn them from darkness to light. I want you to turn them from Satan’s power to God. I want their sins to be forgiven. They will be forgiven when they believe in me. They will have their place among God’s people.’

¹⁹“So then, King Agrippa, I obeyed the vision that appeared from heaven. ²⁰First I preached to people in Damascus. Then I preached in Jerusalem and in all Judea. I preached also to people who are not Jews. I told them to turn away from their sins to God. The way they live must prove that they have turned away from their sins. ²¹That’s why the Jews grabbed me in the temple courtyard and tried to kill me.

²²“But God has helped me to this very day. So I stand here and give witness to both small and great. I have been saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses said would happen. ²³They said the Christ would suffer. He would be the first to rise from the dead. He would announce the light of life to his own people and to those who aren’t Jews.”

²⁴While Paul was still speaking up for himself, Festus interrupted. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you crazy!”

²⁵“I am not crazy, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. ²⁶The king is familiar with these things. So I can speak openly to him. I am certain he knows everything that has been going on. After all, it was not done in secret. ²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”

²⁸Then Agrippa spoke to Paul. “Are you trying to talk me into becoming a Christian?” he said. “Do you think you can do that in such a short time?”

²⁹Paul replied, “I don’t care if it takes a short time or a long time. I pray to God for you and all who are listening to me today. I pray that you may become like me, except for these chains.”

³⁰The king stood up. The governor and Bernice and those sitting with them stood up too. ³¹They left the room and began to talk with one another. “Why should this man die or be put in prison?” they said. “He has done nothing worthy of that!”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free. But he has made an appeal to Caesar.”

Read in Logos