Paul’s Testimony to Agrippa
(Acts 9:1–19; Acts 22:1–21)

1Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: Thou hast leue to speake for thy selfe.The Paul stretched forth the hande, and answered for himselfe:

2I thinke my selfe happye (O kynge Agrippa) because I shal answere this daye before the, of all the thinges wherof I am accused of the Iewes: 3specially for so moch as thou art experte in all customes and questions, which are amonge the Iewes. Wherfore I beseche the, to heare me paciently.

4My lyuynge truly from youth vp (how it was led from the begynnynge amonge this people at Ierusale) knowe all the Iewes 5which knewe me afore at the first, yf they wolde testifye, for after the most strayte secte of oure Iewysh lawe, I lyued a Pharise. 6And now stonde I, and am iudged because of the hope of the promes, that was made of God vnto oure fathers, 7vnto the which (promes) oure twolue trybes hope to come, seruynge God instatly daye and nighte. For the which hopes sake (O kynge Agrippa) I am accused of the Iewes. 8Wherfore is this iudged amonge you not to be beleued, that God rayseth vp the deed?

9I also verely thoughte by my selfe, that I oughte to do many cotrary thinges cleane agaynst the name off Iesus off Nazareth, 10which I dyd at Ierusalem, whan I shut vp many sayntes in preson, whervpon I receaued auctorite of ye hye prestes. And wha they shulde be put to death, I broughte the sentence. 11And thorow all the synagoges I punyshed them oft, and compelled the to blaspheme, and was exceadinge mad vpon them, and persecuted them euen vnto straunge cities.

12Aboute which thinges as I wente towarde Damascon with auctorite and lycence of the hye prestes, 13euen at myddaye (O kynge) I sawe in the waye, that a lighte from heaue (clearer then the brightnesse of the Sonne) shyned rounde aboute me, and them that iourneyed with me. 14But whan we were all fallen downe to the earth, I herde a voyce speakynge vnto me, and sayege in Hebrue: Saul Saul, why persecutest thou me? It shalbe harde for the to kycke agaynst the prycke. 15But I sayde: LORDE, who art thou? He sayde: I am Iesus, whom thou persecutest.

16But ryse vp, and stonde vpon thy fete, for therfore haue I appeared vnto the, that I mighte ordeyne the to be a mynister and witnesse of it that thou hast sene, and that I wyll yet cause to appeare vnto the. 17And I wil delyuer the from the people, and from the Heythen, amonge who I wil now sende the, 18to ope their eyes, that they maye turne from the darknesse vnto the lighte, and from the power of ye deuell vnto God, that they maye receaue forgeuenesse of synnes, and the enheritaunce with them that are sanctified by faith in me.

19Wherfore (O kynge Agrippa) I was not faithlesse vnto ye heauely vision, 20but shewed it first vnto them at Damascon, and at Ierusale, and in all the coastes of Iewry, and to the Heythen, that they shulde do pennaunce, and turne vnto God, and to do the righte workes of pennaunce. 21For this cause the Iewes toke me in the temple, and wente aboute to kyll me. 22But thorow the helpe of God lent vnto me, I stonde vnto this daye, and testifye both vnto small and greate, and saye no other thinge, the that ye prophetes haue sayde (that it shulde come to passe) and Moses, 23that Christ shulde suffre, and be the first of the resurreccion from the deed, and shew light vnto the people, and to the Heythen.

Festus Interrupts Paul’s Defense

24Whan he thus answered for himselfe, Festus sayde with a loude voyce: Paul, thou art besydes thy selfe, moch lernynge maketh ye madd. 25But Paul sayde: I am not madd (most deare Festus) but speake the wordes of trueth and sobernesse: 26for ye kynge knoweth this well, vnto whom I speake frely. For I thinke that none off these thinges is hyd from him: for this was not done in a corner. 27Beleuest thou the prophetes, O kynge Agrippa? I knowe that thou beleuest. 28Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: Thou persuadest me in a parte to become a Christen. 29Paul sayde: I wolde to God, that (not onely in a parte but alltogether,) I mighte persuade not the onely, but all them that heare me this daye, to be soch I am, these bondes excepte.

30And whan he had spoken this, the kynge rose vp, and the Debyte, and Bernice, and they that sat with them, 31and wente asyde, and talked together, and sayde: This man hath done nothinge that is worthy of death or of bondes. 32But Agrippa sayde vnto Festus: This man mighte haue bene lowsed, yf he had not appealed vnto the Emperoure.